Gary Orfield, professor of education and director of the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA, has been selected by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) to present the 2013 Brown Lecture in Education Research.
“It is fitting that this announcement comes at the AERA annual meeting, where Orfield is featured at a session on diversity in higher education and the challenges to affirmative action,” said AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine. That session examines the case, Fisher v. University of Texas—Austin, and the impact on higher education of the impending decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Orfield's expertise is in civil rights, education policy, urban policy, and minority opportunity. His research focus has been the impact of policy decisions on equal opportunity for success in American society.
The Brown Lecture, now in its 10th year, was inaugurated by AERA in 2004 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, in which the U.S. Supreme Court first took scientific research into account in issuing its landmark ruling. The public lecture will occur on Oct. 24 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.
“The Brown Lecture in Education Research is an annual reminder of the role social scientific research plays in the advancement of equality and equity in education and American society,” said Levine.
