Patricia Gándara, Ph.D., research professor of education and co-director of the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA, was selected as the School of Education’s 2014 Educator of the Year. Gándara is being recognized for her distinguished career dedicated to increasing educational opportunity and equity for all students.
Gándara is a commissioner on President Obama’s Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics and is a fellow of the American Educational Research Association and the 2011 recipient of its Presidential Citation. She has written or edited seven books and more than 100 articles and reports on educational equity for racial and linguistic minority students, access to higher education, the education of Latino students and language policy. Gándara received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from UCLA and has been a bilingual school psychologist, a social scientist with the RAND Corporation and has directed education research in the California Legislature.
“We are so pleased to honor Dr. Patricia Gándara for her extraordinary leadership in the field of education,” said Shane P. Martin, dean and professor of the School of Education. “Dr. Gándara truly embodies LMU’s mission: the encouragement of life-long learning and academic excellence, the education of the whole person and the promotion of service and justice for all.”
Past recipients of the SOE’s Educator of the Year Award include Father Gregory Boyle of Homeboy Industries, Gov. Roy Romer, Green Dot Public Schools founder Steve Barr, former LAUSD Board President Marlene Canter and Alliance President and CEO Judy Burton, among others.
The SOE presented the award at its annual Kappa Delta Pi & SOE Awards Ceremony in April. Gándara delivered a brief keynote address, “Education, Opportunity, and Social Justice: California’s Challenges and its Future,” that explored current challenges in education and ways to change the system for the better.