University Follies

Childhood in a liberal, American Labor Party supporting, Greenwich Village family with an actress mother didn't portend an educational and professional path that would pass through Princeton University, three years of New York City public high school teaching, and a PhD from New York University as prelude to forty years of professor and academic dean positions in Boston and San Francisco. Appointments as professor, Assistant Dean and Director of Graduate Studies, Associate Dean for Research and Development in Boston led to appointment as Dean of the Boston University, School of Education by President John R. Silber in 1981. Boston assignments were marked by significant increases in federal grants for projects to support under-served urban, largely minority populations and the introduction of School academic programs to support critical, understaffed professional fields. The Dynamics of Funding, a comprehensive socio-political analysis of federal and state education project development and implementation published in 1980 built on the author's experience as co-director of a major multi-year Boston University-Roxbury community collaborative training grant and Associate Dean for Research and Development.

Boston University years were complemented by six years on the Marblehead School Committee, including chairmanship for three, and membership on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Responsive Education, among the first university programs to facilitate parent involvement in urban schools. After seven years as dean, differences with the Boston University President led the author to seek a leadership position at another institution. Serendipity contributed to the unpredictable appointment in 1989 as Dean at the Jesuit, University of San Francisco, School of Education. Service as Dean in San Francisco for 13 years provided the opportunity to initiate programs in collaboration with Teach for America, a federally funded Americorps Program and a Teaching for Social Justice Institute directed by nationally recognized activist educator, Herb Kohl. University initiatives were complemented by consultancy to the San Francisco School Department on Lowell High School admissions policy and membership in the Association of Jesuit Schools and Colleges (AJCU), including Chair of the AJCU Teacher Education Conference for two years.

After forty years as a member of a university community in 2002, it was time to retire and return to New England. Life with presidents, priests, deans and students for thirteen years in San Francisco provided a wealth of experience that permitted the author to capture the human dimension of university life in University Follies.