Penn GSE Practice Professor Joni Finney discusses the impact of the economic downturn on American colleges. Click here to listen to Dr. Finney on the state -- and the cost -- of American higher education on NPR's On Point with Tom Ashbrook.

Lawrence R. Sipe, associate professor in Penn GSE's Language and Literacy in Education division, has been awarded the 2008 Edward B. Fry Book Award by the National Reading Conference (NRC) for his book Storytime: Young Children's Literary Understanding in the Classroom.

Global learning executives from companies such as JetBlue, CIGNA, Pfizer, and Wipro will convene at an international summit to tackle some of the issues driving innovation in learning and leadership.

Penn GSE Assistant Professor Shaun Harper has been awarded the 2008 Early Career Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education.  

The award is given to a recipient for a significant body of scholarship or a single extraordinary research achievement by a higher education scholar and in recognition of potential for future research.

Penn GSE Dean Andy Porter has been appointed to the National Assessment Governing Board for his second four-year term, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced recently.

The William T. Grant Foundation has selected Penn GSE Professor Stanton Wortham to its fourth group of Distinguished Fellows. Dr. Wortham received this award for his work in studying the challenges that districts, schools, and practicing educators face in serving immigrant Mexican students.

The title of his project, "Involving Parents in the Schooling of Immigrant Mexican Students," reflects his interest in assisting such schools and districts in creating and implementing a plan to increase involvement of these parents in the education of their children.

When the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) was looking for scholars to sit on its new research advisory board, it turned to Penn GSE. Joining the distinguished board are Penn GSE faculty members Marybeth Gasman, Shaun Harper, and Laura Perna.

Penn GSE has initiated a Visiting Faculty Scholars of Color program to bring eminent scholars to campus for a two-day visit during which they will present on their research and meet with faculty and students.

With Penn GSE in the lead, the University of Pennsylvania is partnering in a new center dedicated to improving middle school science education. Called the 21^st Century Center for Cognition and Science Instruction, the project has received $10 million in grant support from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute for Education Sciences.