Education UnBoxed Speaker Series
Presented by the HTH Graduate School of Education
Previous Speakers
Thursday, March 11th
Dr. Howard Fuller, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of Education and Founder
Director of the Institute for the Transformation of Learning at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Howard Fuller’s career includes many years in both public service positions and the field of education. Dr. Fuller is a Distinguished Professor of Education and Founder/Director of the Institute for the Transformation of Learning at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The organization began operation in August of 1995. The mission of the Institute is to support exemplary education options that transform learning for children, while empowering families, particularly low-income families, to choose the best option for their children.
Immediately before his appointment at Marquette University, Dr. Fuller served as the Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools, June 1991 - June 1995. During his tenure as Superintendent, Dr. Fuller became nationally known for his unending support for fundamental educational reform.
His prior positions included: Director of the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services, 1988 -1991; Dean of General Education at the Milwaukee Area Technical College, 1986 -1988; Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Employment Relations, 1983 - 1986; and Associate Director of the Educational Opportunity Program at Marquette University, 1979 - -1983. He was also a Senior Fellow with the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, 1995 - 1997.
Dr. Fuller received his B.S. degree in Sociology from Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin in 1962; M.S.A. degree in Social Administration from Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio in 1964, and his Ph.D. in Sociological Foundations of Education from Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1986.
He has received numerous awards and recognition over the years, including four Honorary Doctorate Degrees: Doctorate of Humane Letters from Carroll College in 1987; Doctorate of Laws from Marian College, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin in 1992; Doctorate of Business and Economics from Milwaukee School of Engineering in 1995:Doctorate of Humane Letters from Edgewood College in 2002.
He is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Black Alliance for Educational Options and the Chairman of the Charter School Review Committee for the City of Milwaukee. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Transcenter for Youth; the Wisconsin United for Health Foundation, the Johnson Foundation; the Dorothy Danforth Compton Fellowship Program and is an active member of several other community and national organizations.
Click here to see video excerpts from Dr. Fuller's speech, Stop Leaving Most Children Behind.
Click here for video of Dr. Fuller speaking to a group of students about the importance of education.
Click here to see video excerpts from another of Dr. Fuller's talks on education and civil rights.
Click here for a link to the article The Continuing Struggle of African Americans for the Power To Make Real Educational Choices by Dr. Howard Fuller
Click herefor the article Educational Choice, A Core Freedom by Dr. Fuller
January 27, 2010
James Gee
Fulton Pres Chair Lit Studies
Learning,Tech & Psych in Ed
Faculty at Arizona State University 
James Paul Gee is a member of the National Academy of Education. His book Sociolinguistics and Literacies (1990, Third Edition 2007) was one of the founding documents in the formation of the "New Literacy Studies", an interdisciplinary field devoted to studying language, learning, and literacy in an integrated way in the full range of their cognitive, social, and cultural contexts. His book An Introduction to Discourse Analysis (1999, Second Edition 2005) brings together his work on a methodology for studying communication in its cultural settings, an approach that has been widely influential over the last two decades.
Professor Gee's most recent books deal with video games, language, and learning. What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy (2003, Second Edition 2007) argues that good video games are designed to enhance learning through effective learning principles supported by research in the Learning Sciences. Situated Language and Learning (2004) places video games within an overall theory of learning and literacy and shows how they can help us in thinking about the reform of schools. His most recent book is Good Video Games and Good Learning: Collected Essays (2007). Professor Gee has published widely in journals in linguistics, psychology, the social sciences, and education.
Click here to see video of James Gee at the HTH GSE Education UnBoxed Speaker Series.
Click here to see James Gee on games and learning.
Click here to hear James Gee on grading and games.
October 1, 2009
Michael Horn
Co-founder and Executive Director,
Education of Innosight Institute
Michael B. Horn is the co-founder and Executive Director, Education of Innosight Institute, a non-profit think tank devoted to applying the theories of disruptive innovation to problems in the social sector. He is the coauthor of Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns (McGraw-Hill: June 2008) with Harvard Business School Professor and bestselling author Clayton M. Christensen and Curtis W. Johnson, president of the Citistates Group. The book uses the theories of disruptive innovation to identify the root causes of schools' struggles and suggests a path forward to customize an education for every child in the way she learns. Horn has been featured as a speaker at many education conferences, including the National Evaluation Systems' conference and the Grantmakers for Education conference.
Prior to this, Horn worked at America Online during its aol.com re-launch, and before that he served as David Gergen's research assistant, where he tracked and wrote about politics and public policy. Horn has written articles for numerous publications, including Education Week, Forbes, the Boston Globe, and U.S. News & World Report. In addition, he has contributed research for Charles Ellis' book, Joe Wilson and the Creation of Xerox (Wiley, 2006) and Barbara Kellerman's Bad Leadership: What It Is, How It Happens, Why It Matters (Harvard Business School Press, 2004). Horn earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and an AB from Yale University, where he graduated with distinction in History.
Click here to read Horn's article from the Atlantic Revolution in the Classroom.
Click hereto see video of Michael Horn at the HTH GSE Education UnBoxed Speaker Series.
Click here to see video of Michael Horn speaking on Distruptive Innivation.
Click here for disruptive examples.
December 11, 2008
Gary Orfield
Co-Director of the UCLA Civil Rights Project
Gary Orfield co-founded and directed the Harvard Civil Rights Project. He is now Professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA. Orfield is well-known for his work related to education policy, urban social policy, and minority opportunity in American society. Recent works include the co-edited books Dropouts in America: Confronting the Graduation Rate Crisis, School Resegregation: Must the South Turn Back?, and Higher Education and the Color Line, as well as numerous articles and reports. In addition to his scholarly work, Orfield has helped develop governmental policy and served as an expert witness in multiple court cases related to civil rights. In 2007, the American Educational Research Association honored him with the Social Justice in Education Award for "work that has had a profound impact on demonstrating the critical role of education research in supporting social justice."
Click here for Orfield's article Are We Losing the Dream?
Click here for Losing Our Future: How Minority Youth Are Being Left Behind by the Graduation Rate Crisis.
Click here for Orfield on Desegregation in Boston and Cambridge.
Click here for how he got started.
Click here for Orfield's take on the history of segregation from Plessy v. Ferguson until now and here for the second part.