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A View from Campus
SPOTLIGHT ON SCHOOL FUNDING
In April, the Steven S. Goldberg & Jolley Bruce Christman Bi-Annual Lecture in Education Law unpacked the recent landmark Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court case that found the state’s formula for funding its schools to be unconstitutional. Dean Katharine Strunk moderated the panel, which featured School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Tony B. Watlington, Sr. and two advocates from the case—Deborah Gordon Klehr, executive director of the Education Law Center, and Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg, L’09, senior attorney at the Public Interest Law Center. (From left: Dean Strunk, Superintendent Watlington, Klehr, lecture founder and Penn GSE Board Member Jolley Bruce Christman, GED’71, GR’87, Urevick-Ackelsberg, and Penn Carey Law Dean Sophia Z. Lee.) Read more: penng.se/lawlecture24
Photo credit: HKB Photo
GRADUATING THE NEXT GENERATION
On May 18, 740 Penn GSE master’s and doctoral students received diplomas at this year’s Commencement in the Palestra. In her remarks, Dean Strunk urged the graduates to stay connected with each other and the School. “Lean on each other. Call on each other. Support each other, and build each other up,” she said. “Remember that together, as part of this Penn GSE community, you can take all that you’ve learned [here], and you can amplify it. In the words of anthropologist Margaret Mead, ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.’”
Photo credit: Krista Patton Photography
LEADERS GUIDING LEADERS
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, LPS’16, gave the keynote address at this year’s Commencement. The former teacher (who is both the city’s 100th mayor and the first woman to hold the job) told the graduates that they give her hope for the future and encouraged them to use their Penn GSE education to be of service, especially to the City of Philadelphia. “You’ve been specifically prepared—each and every one of you—to meet this moment. The question is, will you rise? How will you use this great tool? Will you use it as the great equalizer for the people who may not ever get the opportunity to sit where you are sitting today?”
Photo credit: Krista Patton Photography
CELEBRATING OUR ALUMNI
The 2024 Celebration of Educators, Penn GSE’s annual Alumni Weekend event, featured a panel discussion on “The Price of Knowledge: The Economics of Education” and a ceremony at which Dean Katharine Strunk (center) presented this year’s Education Alumni Awards to (from left) Nora D. S. Rodman, GED’20; Charlotte E. Jacobs, GRD’17; Jasmine L. Blanks Jones, GR’21; ArCasia D. James-Gallaway, GED’16; Christina Grant, GRD’21; Hang Qin, GED’18; and DeAngela Burns-Wallace, GRD’09 (not pictured). Learn more about the accomplishments of these outstanding alumni: penng.se/aw24.
Photo credit: HKB Photo
