Boosting Support for Penn GSE Faculty

by Karen Doss Bowman

Penn GSE faculty are preeminent scholars in the field of education, contributing groundbreaking research and practice that direct the national conversation about education. Thanks to the generosity of multiple friends of the School, these distinguished scholars will be supported by four new professorships established since 2016 through a total of $7.5 million in faculty aid.

“Faculty support is among our highest priorities at Penn GSE,” says Dean Pam Grossman. “Our faculty provide cutting-edge policy guidance through their research, play an outsized role in the leadership of national professional organizations, and partner with teachers and schools to improve education. Perhaps most importantly, they produce Penn GSE alumni—the next generation of transformative educators and leaders.”

Three of the new GSE professorships received matching funds from the University as part of a bold plan to create new endowed professorships under President Gutmann’s Penn Compact 2020 vision. Former Penn GSE Board of Overseers member Lori A. Milken, GED’72, and Michael Milken, WG’70, created the Lori and Michael Milken President’s Distinguished Professorship. Penn GSE Board of Overseers member and former chair Joel M. Greenblatt, W’79, WG’80, and the MRM Foundation established the MRMJJ Presidential Professorship. Multiple donors contributed to a Graduate School of Education Presidential Professorship: current Board of Overseers chair David N. Roberts, W’84, and Deborah Roberts; Overseer Jeffrey S. McKibben, W’93, and Allison Bieber McKibben, C’93; and Overseer Gustave K. Lipman, W’94, and Karen M. Lipman, W’94, WG’98.

An even larger coalition of donors produced a Centennial Presidential Professorship: Overseer Joel M. Greenblatt, W’79, WG’80, and the MRM Foundation; Overseer Edward M. Yorke, W’81; Overseer Andrea J. Pollack, C’83, L’87, and Adam Usdan; the late Richard Charles Trimble; former Overseer John Katzman; Laura Bilodeau Overdeck, WG’95; and Overseer Gregory A. Milken, C’95, and EJ Milken.

“We are deeply grateful for this robust and inspiring support,” says Dr. Grossman. “It ensures that Penn GSE can continue to attract and retain an esteemed and internationally renowned faculty who are transforming education through their research and practice.”

This article originally appeared in the Fall 2017 issue of The Penn GSE Magazine.