The Harvard Graduate School of Education will honor Timothy Knowles, the John Dewey Director of the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute, with its 2011 Alumni Council Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education. For the past 25 years, Harvard alumni have nominated the recipient of the Alumni Council Award in recognition of a profound impact on education.
Knowles is a leading urban education expert, innovator and reformer, dedicated to an evidence-based profession that improves schooling nationwide. As the 2011 nominee, Knowles will join the ranks of distinguished colleagues, including Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone; Stephen Raudenbush, the Lewis-Sebring Distinguished Service Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago; Thomas Payzant, Professor of Practice at Harvard Graduate School of Education and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education; and Lisa Delpit,,executive director of the Center for Urban Education and Innovation at Florida International University.
“I am deeply honored to receive this extraordinary award and humbled to be in the company of such remarkable educators,” Knowles said. “I accept it on behalf of all those working to improve the quality of schooling for children who depend on schools the most.”
UEI is dedicated to creating knowledge to produce reliably excellent schooling for children growing up in urban America.
”Tim is creating outstanding new schools and training powerful new school leaders here on the South Side of Chicago, setting a new national standard for university partnerships with school districts,” Raudenbush said of Knowles. “This work is as difficult as it is essential, and Tim richly deserves this prestigious award."
Prior to leading UEI, Knowles served as deputy superintendent for Teaching and Learning at the Boston Public Schools. There he served as co-director of the Boston Annenberg Challenge, a nationally recognized effort to improve literacy instruction, while creating two organizations devoted to building the pipeline of high-quality teachers and school leaders for Boston Public Schools. Prior to his work in Boston he founded and directed a full-service K-8 school in Bedford-Stuyvesant, New York City. He also served as the founding director of Teach for America in New York City, and taught African history in Botswana.
Knowles has written and spoken extensively on the topics of school leadership, teacher quality, school reform and accountability in public schools. He received his BA in anthropology from Oberlin College and an MA and doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Knowles will accept the Alumni Council Award during Harvard’s 2011 convocation ceremony on Wednesday, May 25.
—Prof. Kunle Odunsi
