Arne Duncan
Arne Duncan | |
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![]() | |
9th United States Secretary of Education | |
Assumed office January 21, 2009 | |
President | Barack Obama |
Preceded by | Margaret Spellings |
CEO of the 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 | Chicago, Illinois | November 6, 1964
Political party | Democratic |
Alma mater | Harvard University (B.A.) |
Arne Duncan (born November 6, 1964) is an American education administrator and currently United States Secretary of Education. Duncan had previously served as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools.
Early life
Duncan was raised in Hyde Park, a Chicago neighborhood encompassing the University of Chicago. His father Starkey Duncan was a psychology professor at the university and his mother Susan Morton runs the Sue Duncan Children's Center, an after school program primarily serving African-American youth in the nearby Kenwood neighborhood. 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, IBM Fellow Kerrie Holley and martial artist Michelle Gordon.
Education
Duncan attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, where he aspired to a future career coaching basketball or playing the sport professionally.[1] He then graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a bachelors degree in sociology in 1987. His senior thesis, for which he took a year's leave to do research in Kenwood, in inner-city Chicago, was entitled The values, aspirations and opportunities of the urban underclass. Though unpublished, it was later cited by other authors.[2][3][4]
Harvard basketball
At Harvard, Duncan was relegated to the junior varsity basketball squad his first year by coach Frank McLaughlin, but later became co-captain of the varsity team and named a first team Academic All-American.[1][5] As a freshman, Duncan narrowly lost to a Duke team that included future NBA player and Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins, as well as Tommy Amaker, who was himself later to become Harvard's basketball coach.[6][7] As a senior and co-captain, Duncan scored 20 points against the then nationally-ranked Duke team, while Duke's Danny Ferry, a future NBA star (and brother of Duncan's former Harvard teammate Bob Ferry) was held to a mere 15 points.[8]
Professional basketball career
From 1987 to 1991, Duncan played professional basketball in Australia with the Eastside Spectres of the National Basketball League,[9] and while there, worked with children who were wards of the state. He also played with the Rhode Island Gulls and tried out for the New Jersey Jammers.[10] While in Tasmania he met his future wife, Karen. A Time Magazine article also mentions that he has played pickup games with Michael Jordan.[11]
Education career before appointment to the Department of Education
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Duncan has extensive experience in educational policy and management, and he was a teacher from 1990 to 1992. In 1992, Duncan became director of the Ariel Education Initiative, a program to enhance educational opportunities for children on Chicago's South Side that was started by John W. Rogers, Jr.. In 1996, along with Rogers, he was part of a network that funded and supported Ariel Community Academy.[12] In 1999, he became Deputy Chief of Staff for former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas.[13] Mayor Richard M. Daley appointed Duncan to serve as CEO of Chicago Public Schools on June 26, 2001.[14]
Duncan was a fellow in the Leadership Greater Chicago's class of 1995[15], and a member of the Aspen Institute's Henry Crown Fellowship Program, Class of 2002. In May 2003, he received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Lake Forest College.
U.S. Secretary of Education
On December 16, 2008, President-elect Barack Obama nominated Duncan for Secretary of Education. Duncan had known Obama for over a decade and played recreational basketball with him, including the day Obama was elected president[16]. Duncan was confirmed by the full Senate on January 20.[17][18]
Emphasis on education's impact in creating long-term U.S. economic growth
Since his confirmation as Secretary of Education, Duncan has repeatedly stressed that long-term economic prospects in the United States are closely tied to the quality of education its students receive. For example, Duncan told the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities that "the best thing we can do is educate our way to a better economy," and that the U.S. has an "economic imperative" to do a better job educating its people.[19] And, in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Education and Workforce Summit, Duncan said, "I believe that the quality of our education system says as much about the long-term health of our economy as the stock market, the unemployment rate and the size of the gross domestic product."[20]
Personal
Duncan is married to Karen Duncan and has two children, daughter Clare, 7, and son Ryan, 4.[21]
References
- ^ a b Blue Chip Stock
- ^ Loic J. D. Wacquant, "Inside 'The Zone': The Social Art of the Hustler in the American Ghetto."
- ^ Mario Luis Small and Monica McDermott, "The Presence of Organizational Resources in Poor Urban Neighborhoods: An Analysis of Average and Contextual Effects"
- ^ Tracking An Unusual Inner-City Talent
- ^ Sweet, Lynn (December 15, 2008). "Arne Duncan to be named Obama Education Secretary". Chicago Sun-Times.
- ^ Blue Devils Slip Past Cagers, 89-86
- ^ Mostly W's for Coach K
- ^ Duke Be-Devils Cagers, 98-86
- ^ "Former NBL star for White House team".f}}
- ^ Soaring to a Professional Career
- ^ http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1863062_1863058_1867011,00.html
- ^ Young, Lauren (March 2002). "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood". SmartMoney. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
- ^ "Deputy steps up to schools CEO". Crain's Chicago Business. July 2, 2001.
- ^ "Arne Duncan". Chicago Public Schools. 2008.
- ^ http://www.lgcchicago.com/fellows.aspx?class=1995
- ^ http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/content/education/chi-obama-duncandec16,0,1498557.story
- ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27343359/
- ^ change.gov (16 December 2008). "President-elect Obama nominates Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education" (Press release). Newsroom. Office of the President-elect. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
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- ^ Hebel, Sara (February 3, 2009). "Arne Duncan Says Spending Money on Education Is Best Cure for Economy". The Chronicle of Higher Education.
- ^ Duncan, Arne (2009-11-09). Economic Security and a 21st Century Education (Speech). Retrieved December 7, 2009.
{{cite speech}}
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and|last=
specified (help) - ^ http://www.ed.gov/news/staff/bios/duncan.html
External links
- 1964 births
- Living people
- People from Chicago, Illinois
- American school administrators
- Harvard Crimson men's basketball players
- Harvard University alumni
- American basketball players
- Eastside Spectres players
- Obama Administration cabinet members
- United States Secretaries of Education
- United States Department of Education officials
- American educators
- Barack Obama
- Obama Administration personnel