Howard C. Stevenson Appointed as Constance E. Clayton Professor In Urban Education
*Note for TV and radio: The University of Pennsylvania has an on-campus ISDN line and ready access to a satellite uplink facility with live-shot capability.
Contact: Kat Stein, Exec. Director of Communications
katstein@gse.upenn.edu / (215) 898-9642
Howard C. Stevenson Appointed as Constance E. Clayton Professor In Urban Education at University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education
Howard C. Stevenson has been named the Constance E. Clayton Professor in Urban Education at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE). This professorship was awarded by Dean Andy Porter in honor of Dr. Constance Clayton, a Penn GSE graduate and former Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia.
“I am delighted to name Dr. Howard Stevenson as the recipient of the Constance E. Clayton Professorship,” said Penn GSE Dean Andy Porter. “Howard’s innovative scholarship echoes Dr. Clayton’s commitment to urban education and supporting students through community engagement.”
Dr. Howard Stevenson has studied racial literacy and socialization for the last two decades and is a leading expert on African-American psychology. His research identifies cultural strengths that exist within families and integrates those strengths into coping interventions to improve the emotional well-being of children, adolescents, and families.
Dr. Constance Clayton earned her Ed.D. in Educational Administration from Penn GSE in 1981. She began her career as an elementary school teacher in 1955, and then served as the city’s first African American Superintendent from 1983 until her retirement in 1993. During her tenure, Dr. Clayton was renowned for tackling a difficult budget without cutting student services, attracting local businesses to help equip schools with better resources, and establishing schools as the center of their communities. The Professorship was established in 1992 with funding from the William Penn Foundation, Cigna, Vanguard, and PNC.
Dr. Stevenson joined Penn GSE in 1990. He is a former Chair of the Applied Psychology and Human Development Division and has a secondary appointment as Professor of Africana Studies at the School of Arts and Sciences. His research has been supported by grants from the W.T. Grant Foundation, Annenberg Foundation and the National Institutes of Mental Health and Child Health and Human Development. For nearly 30 years, he has served as a clinical and consulting psychologist working in poor rural and urban neighborhoods across the country. His most recent book is Promoting Racial Literacy in Schools: Differences That Make a Difference (Teachers College Press, 2014).
About Penn GSE
Penn GSE is one of the nation’s premier research education schools. No other education school enjoys a university environment as supportive of practical knowledge building as the Ivy League’s University of Pennsylvania. The School is notably entrepreneurial, launching innovative degree programs for practicing professionals and unique partnerships with local educators, and the first-ever business plan competition devoted exclusively to educational products and programs. For further information about Penn GSE, please visit www.gse.upenn.edu/.
# # #