Robert Teranishi, associate professor of higher education at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, has been appointed to the U.S. Department of Education’s Equity and Excellence Commission. The appointment was announced by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

NYU's Teranishi Appointed to US Dept. of Education's Equity and Excellence Commission
Robert Teranishi

Robert Teranishi, associate professor of higher education at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, has been appointed to the U.S. Department of Education’s Equity and Excellence Commission. The appointment was announced by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

The commission consists of 28 education advocates, civil rights leaders, scholars, lawyers, and corporate leaders who will examine the impact of school finance on educational opportunity and recommend ways school finance can be improved to increase equity and achievement.

The commission will examine the disparities in meaningful educational opportunities that give rise to the achievement gap, with a focus on systems of finance, and recommend ways in which federal policies could address such disparities. The commission will also recommend ways to restructure school finance systems to achieve equity in the distribution of educational resources and further student achievement and attainment. The Department formed the commission in response to a Congressional request included in the fiscal year 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act.

The members have a wide range of backgrounds in an array of fields, including education, business, and law, and will use their experiences to guide their recommendations.

Teranishi is co-director of the Institute for Globalization and Education in Metropolitan Settings and a faculty affiliate with the Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy. His research has been influential to federal, state, and institution policy related to college access, campus climate, and college affordability and recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action and school desegregation. Teranishi is the recipient of the 2010 Martin Luther King, Jr. Faculty Award from NYU and was recently named one of the nation’s top up-and-coming leaders by Diverse Issues in Higher Education. His most recent book is Asians in the Ivory Tower: Dilemmas of Racial Inequality in American Higher Education (Teachers College Press, 2010).

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