McGraw Center for Educational Leadership launch event brings together students, alumni, and faculty across Penn GSE’s leadership programs

From left to right, inaugural Director Cheryl Logan; Robert, Suzanne, and Harold "Terry" McGraw III; former Dean Pam Grossman; and Dean Katharine Strunk pose for a photo during the launch event for Penn GSE's McGraw Center for Educational Leadership on June 8, 2023. Photo by Holden Kent Blanco for Penn GSE

The event launching Penn GSE’s McGraw Center for Educational Leadership set the tone for the Center’s future: gathering great educational minds from across the School along with outside experts to tackle the big issues facing education today.

The Center’s inaugural director, Cheryl Logan, a Penn GSE alum and McGraw Prize in Education winner, said the event, which took place on June 8, 2023, was indicative of the kind of work the Center will be doing going forward.

“The role of the McGraw Center is working to identify and solve big problems,” she said. “I see it as a destination for creative and innovative thinkers who are comfortable with discomfort and open to collaboration.”

The topic of artificial intelligence (AI), she added, was the perfect subject for the Center’s grand opening.

“It used to be hyperbolic to say the ground is shifting under our feet. Now, AI changes monthly … and how it will impact slowly moving systems is something that leaders need to understand,” she said. “The big rocks—labor markets, instructional change, the role of employers/companies with adult learning of their employees, and higher education—especially will need to evolve at a pace that is uncomfortable and unfamiliar.”

The event featured a keynote from Dr. James Lester, Distinguished University Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Center for Educational Informatics at North Carolina State University. That was followed by two short “lightning” talks by GSE students Zhongtian Huang and Andres Zambrano from the Penn Center for Learning Analytics about how they use ChatGPT in their research; a panel discussion featuring Lester and faculty from the GSE’s renowned Learning Sciences and Technologies programs, including Professor Ryan Baker, Associate Professor Bodong Chen, and moderator Professor Susan Yoon; an audience Q&A session with the panel; and a reception.

In addition to Logan and the event speakers, the crowd of GSE faculty, staff, students, alumni, and supporters included outgoing Dean Pam Grossman, incoming Dean Katharine Strunk, and members of the McGraw family.

“An important priority for the McGraw Center is cultivating leaders who understand the value of making connections across the sectors of our education and learning systems so that we can tackle common challenges and take advantage of new opportunities. This launch event was a wonderful way to begin that,” said Dean Strunk. “I’m excited to see what initiatives and collaborations are sparked by these cross-sector conversations.”

Catalyst @ Penn GSE Executive Director Michael Golden, who organized the launch event, expressed gratitude to the McGraw family for their transformative gifts that have led the school to new heights and greater impact, including creating the Center.

“Along the way, we’ve developed a ‘promance’ with the McGraws and their team—that’s a professional romance,” he said to laughs from the audience, “with great fondness and a super collaborative partnership, we’re thrilled to be on this journey together.”

Harold “Terry” McGraw III said the Center will carry forward his family’s legacy of promoting changemakers in educational leadership.

“Our father was ahead of his time in that he was recognizing innovative leaders,” McGraw said. “Whether teacher, principal, or corporate educator, he saw the value in those who were doing things differently. He knew that powerful learning and change was rooted in the talents and abilities of education’s top leaders.”