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Arne Duncan

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Arne Duncan
9th United States Secretary of Education
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 21, 2009
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byMargaret Spellings
CEO of the Chicago Public Schools
In office
June 26, 2001 – January 21, 2009
Appointed byRichard Daley
Preceded byPaul Vallas
Succeeded byRon Huberman
Personal details
Born (1964-11-06) November 6, 1964 (age 59)
Chicago, Illinois
Political partyDemocratic
Alma materHarvard 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 Though unpublished, it was later cited by other authors.[2][3][4]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

Duncan at 2009 Obama Home States Inauguration Ball

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

  1. ^ a b Blue Chip Stock
  2. ^ Loic J. D. Wacquant, "Inside 'The Zone': The Social Art of the Hustler in the American Ghetto."
  3. ^ Mario Luis Small and Monica McDermott, "The Presence of Organizational Resources in Poor Urban Neighborhoods: An Analysis of Average and Contextual Effects"
  4. ^ Tracking An Unusual Inner-City Talent
  5. ^ Sweet, Lynn (December 15, 2008). "Arne Duncan to be named Obama Education Secretary". Chicago Sun-Times.
  6. ^ Blue Devils Slip Past Cagers, 89-86
  7. ^ Mostly W's for Coach K
  8. ^ Duke Be-Devils Cagers, 98-86
  9. ^ "Former NBL star for White House team".f}}
  10. ^ Soaring to a Professional Career
  11. ^ http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1863062_1863058_1867011,00.html
  12. ^ Young, Lauren (March 2002). "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood". SmartMoney. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  13. ^ "Deputy steps up to schools CEO". Crain's Chicago Business. July 2, 2001.
  14. ^ "Arne Duncan". Chicago Public Schools. 2008.
  15. ^ http://www.lgcchicago.com/fellows.aspx?class=1995
  16. ^ http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/content/education/chi-obama-duncandec16,0,1498557.story
  17. ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27343359/
  18. ^ 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 |author= (help)
  19. ^ Hebel, Sara (February 3, 2009). "Arne Duncan Says Spending Money on Education Is Best Cure for Economy". The Chronicle of Higher Education.
  20. ^ Duncan, Arne (2009-11-09). Economic Security and a 21st Century Education (Speech). Retrieved December 7, 2009. {{cite speech}}: More than one of |author= and |last= specified (help)
  21. ^ http://www.ed.gov/news/staff/bios/duncan.html
Political offices

Template:U.S. Secretary box

U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by
Steven Chu
Secretary of Energy
 United States order of precedence
Secretary of Education 		Succeeded by
Eric Shinseki
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
U.S. presidential line of succession
Preceded by 16th in line
Secretary of Education 		Succeeded by
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