“When you teach high school English, you never worry that you aren’t doing something important,” says Jennifer Wolf, senior lecturer at the Graduate School of Education.

Having decided in the fourth grade that she wanted to be a reading teacher, Wolf went on to spend 15 years teaching in public schools in Northern California. While she loved teaching high school students, she also wanted to have a role in ensuring that a larger, more diverse, and better-prepared group of individuals enter the field of education.

As the director of undergraduate programs at the GSE, Wolf hopes to raise the profile of education across campus. She wants Stanford undergraduates to come to the GSE to seek advising about education and take classes in the field.

“When they leave here, they’re going to do something that affects education,” she says. “Maybe they’re going to be a teacher or a parent. Maybe they’re going to be a voter or a taxpayer. They’re going to participate in the education democracy, and I want them to strengthen and improve it with the knowledge that we’re sharing with them.”