Rajeev Amara, W’97

"Educators and educational institutions will have to transform their curricula for the next generation of teachers to focus on topics such as problem solving, creativity, and design thinking.”

From his vantage point managing investments in industrial sectors for a private equity firm, Penn GSE Board of Overseers member Rajeev Amara, W’97, foresees technological changes that will alter how education must prepare Americans for the jobs of the future. And he envisions Penn GSE under Dean Pam Grossman leading the way to unleash the power of education for the next generation of students.

“It is my belief that over the next ten to fifteen years, free immediate access to an infinite amount of factual knowledge and the inevitable penetration of automation into our daily lives will create many new professions we can’t even imagine today,” Amara says. “It will also result in the loss of many of today’s jobs. These forces will also make obsolete many of our current teaching methods and content. Educators and educational institutions will have to transform their curricula for the next generation of teachers to focus on topics such as problem solving, creativity, and design thinking.”

Amara cites Dean Grossman’s vision and energy as the source of his confidence that Penn GSE is poised to make a critical difference in preparing the next generation of educators. “Penn GSE is one of the top schools in education, led by a visionary, forward-thinking leader,” Amara says. “My confidence that Pam and her team are uniquely positioned to take on the challenges we are facing is the main reason I chose to support the School.”

By establishing the Amara Endowed Fellowship Fund to provide financial support for Penn GSE students, he aims to help the School prepare the graduates who will transform the nation’s education landscape. “Penn GSE has a multiplier effect,” he says. “The School is producing people who are going to make thousands and thousands of people successful.”

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