Penn GSE Career Paths

Judy (Alpert) Goffman Cutler, CW’63, GED’64, knows that promoting awareness of an art form means being an educator.

Colette Pierce Burnette, GRD ’15, left a lucrative career in engineering to find her purpose in higher education. As president of Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas, she is committed to the purpose of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in American education.

To Helen Gym, C’93, GED’96, if the quality of American public education is at stake, so are the values at the heart of our democracy. 

When James R. Johnsen, GRD ’06, left a labor relations post with the State of Alaska for one at the University of Minnesota, he didn’t expect to be a college president one day. But when he rose to chief of staff at the University of Alaska in 1998, he says, the then-president suggested he was top-dog material.

To Constance Clayton, GRD’81, arts and culture are a critical part of children’s learning.

Silvia Castro, GRD’10, president of Universidad Lationoamericana de Ciencia yTecnología, uses her Penn GSE education to innovate learning and student services.

As president of American Public Education Inc., Wallace “Wally” E. Boston, GRD’10, believes in the future of online education.

Margaret Plympton, GRD’11, believes the liberal arts are a worthy investment for higher education.