Faculty & Research
Meet our faculty.
Penn GSE faculty are some of the most knowledgeable and innovative experts on education and human development. Pioneers in their fields, these eminent researchers, policymakers, and practitioners are leading the conversation about how to solve critical issues in education.
Our faculty and students engage in groundbreaking research and practice around the world. They partner with government agencies and NGOs to improve early childhood learning in Ghana. They help governments in emerging democracies and post-Soviet countries develop higher education institutions. They advise agencies and schools in Asia on assessing young children’s English language skills.
They are charting new pathways for educational leadership and having an impact far beyond the borders of our campus.
As a student, you will be collaborating with and learning directly from the pacesetters in education and their scholarship.
Get to know our faculty by visiting: www.gse.upenn.edu/about-us/faculty
Faculty Spotlight:
howard c. stevenson,
Constance Clayton Professor of Urban Education
Constance Clayton Professor of Urban Education
Dr. Stevenson is an expert on how to resolve the racial stress and trauma that affect health at every stage of life. Key to this racial healing work is integrating cultural strengths to reduce in-the-moment threat reactions, increase access to memory, physical mobility, and voice, and prevent long-term health detriment. He has served for 33 years as a clinical psychologist working in under-resourced rural and urban neighborhoods across the country. Dr. Stevenson’s impactful contributions have earned him prestigious awards, including the 2020 Gittler Prize, and recognition in influential scholarly rankings.
Faculty Spotlight:
Jon Zimmerman,
Judy and Howard Berkowitz Professor of History of Education
Judy and Howard Berkowitz Professor of History of Education
Considered one of the foremost education historians today, Dr. Zimmerman has been listed among Education Week’s annual Top 100 “Edu-Scholars” who influence public discussion in the U.S. for the past decade. His work examines how education practices and policies have developed over time, and the myths that often cloud our understanding of teaching and learning. He has a particular interest in how political and social movements shape education. A former Peace Corps volunteer and high school teacher, Dr. Zimmerman has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Review of Books, and The Atlantic.
Faculty Spotlight:
Yasmin B. Kafai,
Lori and Michael Milken President’s Distinguished Professor
Lori and Michael Milken President’s Distinguished Professor
Dr. Kafai, a pioneer in learning sciences and computer science education, was honored with a 2025 Stibitz-Wilson Award from the American Computer and Robotics Museum for her role—alongside MIT Media Lab colleagues—in developing Scratch, the wildly popular programming platform where millions of kids create and share interactive projects. Dr. Kafai work blends coding with creativity, empowering K–16 students to design games, craft electronic textiles, and even build biology-inspired applications. Today, she’s helping teens audit algorithms and uncover bias in AI, equipping them with the tools to navigate—and shape—the digital world.
Driven by results
As much as our work is focused on mastering a growing body of knowledge, we see the true benefit of our efforts when we get out into the world and put our knowledge to work. That’s how we make an impact.
A. Brooks Bowden,
Associate Professor of Education Policy and Director of the Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education
Associate Professor of Education Policy and Director of the Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education
Project Spotlight:
Cost-Effectiveness Studies of Early Childhood Interventions Serving Refugees
This project aims to address the needs of children in early childhood in humanitarian contexts through “low-cost” approaches that can be scaled quickly to serve as many children and families as possible. The project will estimate the cost-effectiveness of five early childhood development interventions for children living in exceptional circumstances in Jordan, Lebanon, Bangladesh, and Colombia.
$53M
In grants and contract funding for research
8
Penn GSE Faculty members named to the 2025 Edu-Scholars public influence rankings