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GSE honors three alumni for career achievements

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GSE honors three alumni for career achievements

Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Joyce King and Bernardo Naranjo are recognized for their contributions to improving lives through learning.

Three alumni from Stanford's Graduate School of Education will receive its annual Alumni Excellence in Education Award for their pioneering work and leadership in the field.

The 2018 honorees are:

  • Kimberly Gordon Biddle, EdS ’90, PhD ’93, professor of child development at Sacramento State University
  • Joyce E. King, ’69, PhD ’74, professor of educational policy studies at Georgia State University's College of Education & Human Development
  • Bernardo H. Naranjo, PhD ’02, director general of Proyecto Educativo in Mexico

“These awards celebrate the outstanding work of three alumni who are transforming education through their innovation, personal drive and exemplary leadership,” said Daniel Schwartz, the I. James Quillen Dean and Nomellini and Olivier Professor of Educational Technology. “Joyce, Kimberly and Bernardo help realize the GSE vision of preparing all learners to thrive in a dynamic future. It gives us great pride to honor them.”

Thirteen alumni have been recognized since the award’s inception in 2015. This accolade seeks to honor graduates who are elevating the promise of education at the local, national and international levels through research, teaching, writing, policymaking, entrepreneurship or leadership.

Stellar track records

Kimberly Gordon Biddle, EdS ’90, PhD ’93 (Photo: Bruce Clarke/Sacramento State)
Kimberly Gordon Biddle, EdS ’90, PhD ’93 (Photo: Bruce Clarke/Sacramento State)

Kimberly Gordon Biddle is being honored for her work in the field of child development and early education and its impact on at-risk groups. Her research, writing, advocacy and service on behalf of minority families has shed critical light on the role of poverty, food scarcity, home insecurity and racism in shaping a child’s future. Since 2002, Biddle has taught at Sacramento State’s College of Education, where she has authored two textbooks and received the Outstanding Teaching Award.

As one of the few black scholars in the field of child development and early education, Biddle regularly mentors first-generation college students from minority and under-resourced backgrounds and is working to open up opportunities for them to pursue degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) degrees. An active member of the Sacramento community, Biddle speaks frequently on the challenges of growing up minority and poor in the United States.

Joyce E. King, ’69, PhD ’74 (Photo: Jason Braverman)
Joyce E. King, ’69, PhD ’74 (Photo: Jason Braverman)

Joyce E. King is a distinguished scholar of issues surrounding racial equity and justice in American education, specifically their impact on teacher training and black education in the U.S. and internationally. She is credited with the concept of “dysconscious racism,” which refers to the uncritical perceptions, attitudes, beliefs and assumptions held by teachers and others that perpetuate inequality in education. As an undergraduate at Stanford in the late 1960s, King played a central role in driving efforts to diversify the university’s student body.

King is the provost emerita of Spelman College and former president of the American Educational Research Association. Since 2004, she has held the Benjamin E. Mays Endowed Chair for Urban Teaching, Learning and Leadership at Georgia State University. King is also the author, co-author or editor of seven books. She is president of the Board of Directors of Food First and a member of the National African American Reparations Commission.

Bernardo H. Naranjo, PhD ’02 (Photo: INEE Mexico)
Bernardo H. Naranjo, PhD ’02 (Photo: INEE Mexico)

Bernardo H. Naranjo is an education policy researcher and consultant. As director general of Proyecto Educativo since 2006, he has been instrumental in creating and implementing new ways of delivering education for public school systems in Mexico and Latin America. His work attracted national attention in 2015 when the state of Puebla, ranked 28th of 32 in socioeconomic status, reached the top spot in academic achievement nationwide, a position it has since retained.

Naranjo has also worked to cultivate the next generation of education reformers. He and two other Stanford alums helped create the Claudio X. Gonzalez Graduate Student Aid Fund to provide scholarships to two Mexican GSE students a year. In April 2018, he was elected by the Mexican Senate to the Board of the National Institute for Education Evaluation.  

Fall awards ceremony

Each year, recipients of the Alumni Excellence in Education Award are chosen by a panel that includes GSE alumni, faculty and the dean. Honorees receive an honorarium made possible through the generosity and vision of Angela, ’93, and David Filo, MS ’90, and the Yellow Chair Foundation.

The awards will be presented at a campus reception on Oct. 26 during Reunion Homecoming Weekend.

Find out more about the award and our past recipients, and register for this year's award reception and other GSE Reunion 2018 events.


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