Five Women Appointed to Endowed Professorships at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

The Harvard Graduate School of Education has announced the appointment of five faculty members to endowed chairs. All of the appointments went to women.

Susan Dynarski was appointed the Patricia Albjerg Graham Professor of Education. Professor Dynarski’s research focuses on understanding and reducing inequality in education, looking to assess the effects of charter schools, financial aid, postsecondary schooling, class size, and high school reforms on academic achievement, educational attainment, and long-term outcomes. Dr. Dynarski earned a bachelor’s degree in social studies and a master of public policy degree from Harvard University. She earned a Ph.D .in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Heather Hill was named the Hazen-Nicoli Professorship in Teacher Learning and Leadership. Professor Hill will co-chair the new master’s degree program in teaching and teacher leadership. Her research focuses on teacher and teaching quality and efforts to improve both. She is co-author of Learning Policy: When State Education Reform Works (Yale University Press, 2001). Dr. Hill is a graduate of Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. where she majored in political science. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan.

Nonie Lesaux is the Roy E. Larsen Professor of Education and Human Development. Dr. Lesaux’s research focuses on promoting the language and literacy skills of today’s children from diverse linguistic, cultural, and economic backgrounds. She is the c0-author of Teaching Advanced Literacy Skills: A Guide for Leaders in Linguistically Diverse Schools (Guilford Press, 2016). Dr. Lesaux is a graduate of Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, in Canada. She holds a  master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia.

Meira Levinson, a political philosopher who works at the intersection of civic education, youth empowerment, racial justice, and educational ethics, was appointed the Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Professor of Education and Society. She is the co-editor of Democratic Discord in Schools: Cases and Commentaries in Educational Ethics (Harvard Education Press, 2019). Dr. Levinson is a graduate of Yale University, where she majored in philosophy. She holds a Ph.D. in politics from the University of Oxford in England.

Catherine Snow is the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education. She is an expert on language and literacy development in children and focuses her research on how oral language skills are acquired and how they relate to literacy outcomes. She is a past president of the American Educational Research Association. A Toledo native, Professor Snow earned a bachelor of arts degree from Oberlin College in Ohio. She holds master’s and doctoral degrees from McGill University in Montreal.