Rand Quinn named faculty director of Civic House

Penn GSE Associate Professor Rand Quinn has been appointed faculty director of Civic House and the Civic Scholars Program. He begins in the role Aug. 1.

Quinn is a widely recognized scholar of public education, especially organizing, activism, and the politics of race and class in urban school reform. A former community organizer, he is the author of Class Action: Desegregation and Diversity in San Francisco Schools (University of Minnesota Press, 2020), a landmark political history of school desegregation in San Francisco after the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which traces the evolving relationships among judicial action, community-based activism, multiracial politics, and urban education reform.

Civic House is Penn’s hub for civic engagement, promoting mutually beneficial collaborations between Penn and Philadelphia community nonprofit organizations. Through social justice education, trainings, and workshops, Civic House prepares students for responsible community engagement and empowers them to become advocates for social change. The Civic Scholars Program at Civic House provides undergraduate students with a sustained four-year experience in civic engagement and scholarship, including dedicated proseminars, summer internships, and a capstone senior research project.

Read more about this announcement on Penn Today.