Alumni Stories

Share Your Story

Penn GSE welcomes news of how our alumni are educating, leading, and innovating to shape the future of education. We hope you will draw inspiration from the stories we’ve shared on Penn GSE social media and take a moment to share your work with us.


Learn More About Our Share Your Story Campaign


Julee Gard, wearing a red cap, a navy blue and white striped shirt, and a brown apron, is focused on serving sausages at a soup kitchen in Joliet, Illinois, alongside her University of St. Francis colleagues.
March 12, 2024

Gard developed the Financial Viability Index, a color-coded tool designed to help small, tuition-dependent colleges analyze their financial health efficiently and take actionable steps to avoid closure.

  • Education Innovation & Entrepreneurship
  • Higher Education
  • Leadership
  • Alumni
Taylor Hausburg and Zachary Herrmann at the UN.
March 5, 2024

Penn GSE alumni are addressing the challenge of climate change across various sectors, including film, finance, communications, and education, as highlighted in the Penn GSE Magazine.

  • Education Innovation & Entrepreneurship
  • Alumni
Nimet Eren, dressed in red attire, stands in her office surrounded by a collection of artifacts that reflect her journey as an educator.
February 16, 2024

Nimet Eren, a Penn GSE graduate and principal of Kensington Health Sciences Academy, blends innovative education with a community focus.

  • Race, Equity & Inclusion
  • Teaching & Learning
  • Alumni
Dr. Constance E. Clayton sits in a peach colored skirt and blazer, surrounded by attendees at the 2016 Constance E. Clayton Lecture
September 29, 2023

In addition to a chaired professorship in her name and a fellowship she helped establish, Clayton leaves behind a legacy of quality education for students from all backgrounds.

  • Philadelphia Impact
  • Race, Equity & Inclusion
  • Education Innovation & Entrepreneurship
  • Education Policy & Analysis
  • Leadership
  • Teaching & Learning
  • Alumni
Mark Ziegler-Thayer smiles at the camera wearing a white blazer over a gray sweater, standing in front of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building in Washington, D.C. The words “U.S. Department of Education” are mounted on the face of the building in large metal letters above Mark’s head.
August 23, 2023

Mark Ziegler-Thayer started out as a part-time kindergarten teacher’s assistant. The experience changed their life. Two master’s degrees later, they are now working to effect change at the national level in a prestigious, two-year Presidential Management Fellows program, where they hope to increase access to high-quality and equitable education for all students.

  • Alumni
Dean Grossman stands in the middle of six smiling Education Alumni Award winners in front of a screen with the Penn GSE logo on it.
June 20, 2023

The annual Alumni Weekend event included a panel discussion, an awards ceremony, and recognition of teachers who have served in classrooms for more than five years.

  • Alumni
April 3, 2023

The 2023 winners, teacher honorees and other annual award recipients will be recognized May 13 during the Celebration of Educators, alongside a panel discussion with Dean Pam Grossman.

  • Alumni
March 24, 2023

The mid-career alum founded Delaware College Scholars, a free college prep program to support under-resourced high school and college students. The organization has a 100 percent high school graduation rate across all the state’s 19 districts.

  • Alumni
Four Penn GSE students wearing Penn GSE sweatshirts in blue, gray, or white walk down a path on the Penn campus. They are smiling and laughing.
December 16, 2022

Show your school pride with T-shirts, sweatshirts, phone cases, and other Penn GSE merchandise. 

  • Alumni
Professor Sigal Ben-Porath seated on stage during a recent panel discussion about free speech issues. She's holding a microphone and gesturing with her hand as she answers a question from the audience.
December 13, 2022

Professors Sigal Ben-Porath and Andrea M. Kane discussed current challenges to free speech in K–12 and higher education with Dean Pam Grossman in front of alumni and friends. The challenges aren’t new, but they’re being amplified by increased polarization in our society.

  • Alumni

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