For Immediate Release
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, April 29, 2013 - Gary Orfield, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has been selected by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) to present the 2013 Brown Lecture in Education Research. The announcement was made at the Association’s 94th Annual Meeting taking place this week in San Francisco.
“It is fitting that this announcement comes at the AERA Annual Meeting, where Orfield is featured at a session on diversity in higher education and the challenges to affirmative action,” says AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine. That session examines the case, Fisher v. University of Texas – Austin, and the impact on higher education of the impending decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Orfield's expertise is in civil rights, education policy, urban policy, and minority opportunity. His research focus has been the impact of policy decisions on equal opportunity for success in American society. He was co-founder and director of the Harvard Civil Rights Project, and now serves as co-director of the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA.
The Brown Lecture ─ now in its 10th year ─ was inaugurated by AERA in 2004 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, in which the U.S. Supreme Court first took scientific research into account in issuing its landmark ruling. The public lecture will take place on October 24, 6:30 p.m., at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.
The Brown Lecture Selection Committee included AERA President William G. Tierney, University of Southern California; President-Elect Barbara Schneider, Michigan State University; Executive Director Felice J. Levine; Director of Social Justice George L. Wimberly; Social Justice Action Committee (SJAC) Chair Richard P. Duran, University of California - Santa Barbara; and two additional SJAC members, April Taylor, California State University – Northridge; and Shaun Harper, University of Pennsylvania.
“The Brown Lecture in Education Research is an annual reminder of the role social scientific research plays in the advancement of equality and equity in education and American society,” said Levine.
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To reach AERA, call (202) 238-3200 or contact AERA Communications Director Tony Pals at [email protected], (202) 238-3235, (202) 288-9333 (cell)
The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is the largest national professional organization devoted to the scientific study of education. Founded in 1916, AERA aims to advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good.