Spencer Foundation Program

The Spencer Fellows Program offered a unique opportunity for 10 rising scholars in education policy to both interact with senior experts in the field around the topic of states’ impact and enhance their awareness of the role and importance of archival materials and research to their scholarship.

To support this effort, the Spencer Foundation contributed funding for Spencer Fellows to take part in the conference, which brought together 120 education scholars, policymakers, teachers, advocates, journalists, and archivists. 

At the evening reception, during meals, and in roundtable discussions, the Spencer Fellows were introduced by their mentors to other senior scholars, and they were active contributors to the table and plenary discussions. Many began learning and thinking about archives for the first time. Wrote one graduate student, “I believe there is a [need] to teach future generations about the [history of policy] development.  So much of what took place is lost and never learned from.”

Spencer Fellows

Peggy DeLapp, Coordinator and Teaching Specialist, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, University of Minnesota

Todd Grindal, Doctoral Candidate, Harvard Graduate School of Education         

Tiina Itkonen, Assistant Professor, California State University, Channel Islands

Jonah Liebert, Advanced Doctoral Student, Teachers College, Columbia University

David Mayrowetz, Assistant Professor, Education Policy Studies, College of Education, University of Illinois at Chicago

Jal Mehta, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Benjamin M. Superfine, Assistant Professor, Educational Policy Studies Department University of Illinois at Chicago

Elliot Weinbaum, Research Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania, Consortium for Policy Research in Education           

Christian P. Wilkens, Doctoral Candidate, Harvard Graduate School of Education           

Amy Wooten, Doctoral Candidate, Harvard Graduate School of Education