Dr. Michael D. Shonrock

Michael D. Shonrock (born 1957 in Chicago, Illinois) is president of Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas.^[1] He was previously vice president for student affairs and enrollment management at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.^[2]

Shonrock received his B.S. in 1979 from Western Illinois University, M.S. in 1981 and Ed.S. in 1987 from Pittsburg State University, and Ph.D. in 1991 from University of Kansas.^[3] Appointed to the Texas Tech University faculty in 1991, Shonrock was associate professor of educational psychology & leadership in the Texas Tech University College of Education.^[4] Michael Shonrock was active in the 2008 planning of Texas Tech's $3-million on-campus chapel and announced that "no religious affiliations will be included and there will be stained-glass windows without religious images, and movable chairs, rather than pews."^[5] Shonrock was involved in the leadership of the Lubbock Area United Way, the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce, and the University Medical Center. He attended the United Methodist Church.

He has held leadership positions in the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges; in 2000 he received the Texas Tech University President's Quality Service Award.^[6]

He is married to Karen Corkery Shonrock.

Notes[link]

This Texas Tech University-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This biography of an American academic is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This Texas-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Arne Duncan
9th United States Secretary of Education
Incumbent
Assumed office January 21, 2009
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	Anthony Miller
Preceded by	Margaret Spellings
Superintendent of Chicago Public Schools
In office June 26, 2001 – January 21, 2009
Appointed by	Richard Daley
Preceded by	Paul Vallas
Succeeded by	Ron Huberman
Personal details
Born	(1964-11-06) November 6, 1964 (age 47) Chicago, Illinois, United States
Political party	Democratic Party
Alma mater	Harvard University

Arne Duncan (born November 6, 1964) is an American education administrator and currently United States Secretary of Education. Duncan previously served as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools.

Early years and personal life[link]

Duncan was raised in Hyde Park, a Chicago neighborhood encompassing the University of Chicago. He is the son of Susan Goodrich (née Morton) and Starkey Davis Duncan, Jr. His father was a psychology professor at the university and his mother runs the Sue Duncan Children's Center, an after-school program primarily serving African-American youth in the nearby Kenwood neighborhood. His ancestry includes Norwegian, Scottish, German, Swedish, and English; his great-great-great-grandfather was U.S. Representative Milo Goodrich.^[1] While growing up, Duncan spent much of his free time at his mother's center tutoring or playing with students there. Some of his childhood friends were John W. Rogers, Jr., CEO of Ariel Capital Management (now Ariel Investments) and founder of the Ariel Community Academy, Illinois State Senator Kwame Raoul, actor Michael Clarke Duncan, singer R. Kelly and award winning martial artist Michelle Gordon.^{[citation needed]}

Duncan after the 2012 State of the Union Address

Duncan attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools^[2] and later Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in sociology. His senior thesis, for which he took a year's leave to do research in the Kenwood neighborhood, was entitled The values, aspirations and opportunities of the urban underclass.^[3]

While at Harvard, Duncan co-captained the varsity basketball team and was named a first team Academic All-American.^[2][4] From 1987 to 1991, Duncan played professional basketball, mostly in Australia, with teams including Melbourne's Eastside Spectres, of Australia's National Basketball League.^[5]

While in Australia, Duncan met his future wife, Karen Luann Duncan.^[6] They live in Arlington, Virginia. Their children, Claire and Ryan, attend public elementary school there.^[7]

In May 2012, he revealed he supports same-sex marriage.^[8][9]

Education career[link]

Duncan at 2009 Obama Home States Inauguration Ball

In 1992, childhood friend and investment banker John W. Rogers, Jr. appointed Duncan director of the Ariel Education Initiative, a program mentoring children at one of the city's worst-performing elementary schools and then assisting them as they proceeded further in the education system.^[3] After the school closed in 1996, Duncan and Rogers were instrumental in re-opening it as a charter school, Ariel Community Academy.^[10] In 1999, Duncan was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff for former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas.^[11]

Chicago public schools CEO[link]

Mayor Richard M. Daley appointed Duncan to serve as Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools on June 26, 2001.^[12] Opinions vary on Duncan's success as CEO; one prominent publication notes improved test scores and describes Duncan as a consensus builder,^[13] while another finds the improvements largely a myth and is troubled by the closing of neighborhood schools and their replacement by charter schools, and what it describes as schools' militarization.^[14]

Secretary of Education[link]

Duncan was appointed U.S. Secretary of Education by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate on January 20, 2009.^[15] One of Duncan's well-known initiatives as secretary has been a $4 billion Race to the Top competition. It asks states to vie for federal education dollars by submitting proposals that include reforms such as expanding charter schools and judging teachers partly on how well their students do on standardized tests.^[16] Duncan sends his own children to public schools.^[15] In March 2011 Duncan said 82 percent of the nation’s public schools could be failing by next year under the standards of the No Child Left Behind law. The projection amounts to a startling spike from current data, which shows that 37 percent of schools are on track to miss targets set by the law. He said “Four out of five schools in America would not meet their goals under [No Child Left Behind] by next year,” Duncan said in his opening statement. “This is why we have to fix the law now. Nobody can support inaction and maintain the status quo.”^[17]

Criticism[link]

Teachers' unions, such as the National Education Association (NEA), have criticized the Obama Administration's embrace of charter schools as part of the Race to the Top. The NEA gave the Race to the Top a vote of "no confidence," and invited critic Diane Ravitch to speak at their 2010 meeting.^[18] In February 2012, Duncan was criticized for appearing publically on a panel with Michelle Rhee—former Washington D.C. Chancellor of Schools. The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Education (the Department which Duncan heads) was, at that time, investigating whether D.C. schools had cheated to raise test scores during Rhee's tenure. On February 26, 2012, the New York Times quoted criticisms of Duncan by Richard L. Hyde, an investigator who exposed the large-scale test-score cheating that was endemic in Atlanta (Georgia) City Schools: “'I’m shocked that the secretary of education would be fraternizing with someone who could potentially be the target of the investigation,' [Hyde] said. 'The appearance of a conflict of interest is troubling because it can cause the public to lose faith in the investigation.'” ^[19]

References[link]

External links[link]

	Chicago portal
	Biography portal

Media related to Arne Duncan at Wikimedia Commons

• United States Department of Education bio
• The Sue Duncan Children's Center
• Arne Duncan at WhoRunsGov at The Washington Post
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Arne Duncan on Charlie Rose
• Arne Duncan collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Arne Duncan in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

v t e United States Secretaries of Education Hufstedler Bell Bennett Cavazos Alexander Riley Paige Spellings Duncan

v t e Current members of the Cabinet of the United States Obama Biden Bryson Chu Clinton Donovan Duncan Geithner Holder Jacksonc Kirkc Kruegerc LaHood Lewc Millsc Napolitano Panetta Ricec Salazar Sebelius Solis Shinseki Vilsack Zientsca c - cabinet-level; a - acting

v t e Cabinet of President Barack Obama (since 2009)   Cabinet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (2009–present) Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner (2009–present) Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (2009–2011) Leon Panetta (2011–present) Attorney General Eric Holder (2009–present) Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar (2009–present) Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (2009–present) Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke (2009–2011) John Bryson (2011–present) Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis (2009–present) Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius (2009–present) Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (2009–present) Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan (2009–present) Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood (2009–present) Secretary of Energy Steven Chu (2009–present) Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki (2009–present) Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano (2009–present)   Cabinet-level Vice President Joe Biden (2009–present) White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel (2009–2010) William Daley (2011–2012) Jacob Lew (2012–present) Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Lisa Jackson (2009–present) Director of the Office of Management and Budget Peter Orszag (2009–2010) Jacob Lew (2010–2012) Trade Representative Ron Kirk (2009–present) Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice (2009–present) Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Christina Romer (2009–2010) Austan Goolsbee (2010–2011) Alan Krueger (2011–present) Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Leon Panetta (2009–2011) David Petraeus (2011–present) Administrator of the Small Business Administration Karen Mills (2012–present)* * took office in 2009, raised to cabinet-rank in 2012 See also: Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet

Dennis Van Roekel is President of the 3.2 million-member National Education Association. As NEA president, he leads the largest labor union in the United States.

Background[link]

Van Roekel was born in Le Mars, Iowa. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Iowa in Iowa City and a master’s degree in math education from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. He taught math for more than 20 years at Paradise Valley High School in Phoenix, Arizona. He has held key positions in all levels of the teachers union, including Paradise Valley Education Association President, Arizona Education Association President, and served two terms as NEA Secretary-Treasurer, and NEA Vice President. He was elected NEA President by the 2008 NEA Representative Assembly, and succeeds Reg Weaver in that position.^[1]

Presidency[link]

As NEA President, Van Roekel has been a vocal supporter of the broader union movement. He gave a speech calling for unity at a meeting in January 2009 with the leaders of the AFL-CIO and the breakaway Change to Win; The New York Times called his attendance at that meeting "somewhat surprising" since the NEA has been more independent in the past.^[2] He has been outspoken about the neediest schools in the country, and has testified before Congress that union staffing rules would not stand in the way of putting the best teachers in high-needs schools.^[3][4][5]

References[link]

1. ^ "25-Year Teaching Veteran Elected President of NEA," NEA press release
2. ^ "Labor Calls for Unity After Years of Division," The New York Times, January 7, 2009
3. ^ "NEA moves to help poor schools with best teachers," USA Today, September 30, 2009
4. ^ "House Panel Targets Distribution of Teachers in ESEA, Stimulus," Education Week, October 2, 2009
5. ^ "Teachers Union Shifts Stance, Backs Looser Staffing Rules," Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2009

External links[link]

• [1]

This article about an educator is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This article related to one or more trade or labor unions is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e