“It will foster collaborations to take education into a currently unimaginable and brighter future,” Schwartz said. “In the end, the campus will do what architecture does best: orchestrate social interaction.”
The project’s origins date back to the tenure of former GSE Dean Claude Steele, who advocated for a new building. His successor, Dean Deborah Stipek, continued that advocacy and convened a task force to investigate the possibility of new facilities. After Schwartz became dean, he collaborated on a new vision for the school and helped researchers respond to urgent issues of the moment, including the COVID-19 pandemic, widening inequities, and a nationwide reckoning on racism. The project slowed but eventually regained its momentum. Construction and renovation is expected to take about two and a half years to complete.
The new campus is made possible by significant philanthropic support from many donors, including lead gifts from longtime Stanford supporters Angela Nomellini, ’75, and husband Ken Olivier, ’74, and Tricia and Jeff Raikes, ’80.
“We’re really grateful for your commitment and your contributions to create a new and expanded center for this important work,” said Drell, noting that the GSE plays a central and fundamental role in the university’s mission to pursue knowledge for the benefit of society.
Drell also acknowledged the importance of the GSE’s central location on campus and how it will encourage connections and foster collaboration.
“The Graduate School of Education’s new expanded home will be a very highly visible beacon of the promise and the potential of education,” she said. “It will draw students, faculty, researchers and practitioners from diverse fields who share the desire to improve outcomes for every kind of learner at any stage of their educational journey.”
Bunderson, who studies in the Developmental and Psychological Sciences Program at the GSE, said that her interdisciplinary work – and that of others at the GSE and across Stanford – will greatly benefit from the new campus.
“No learning or research can happen without collaborative relationships,” she said. “For those of us who sit at the intersection of multiple fields, it’s this interconnected community of the GSE that’s the scaffold that makes our work possible.”