Alumni Council Honors Two for Outstanding Contributions to Education

Eleanor Linn, M.A.T. ’72, and Nan Stein, Ed.D.’81, received the 2007 Alumni Council Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education on Wednesday, June 6. Together, Linn and Stein have dedicated themselves to developing and supporting educators and policymakers who promote gender equality and rights for girls.

“We are thrilled that the Ed School has selected us for the work that we have done over many decades — work that has included the creation of curriculum for classroom use, national surveys to document the extent of the problem, development of teaching training materials, and, when necessary, serving as expert witnesses in federal lawsuits when school districts have been reluctant to grant civil rights to their students,” Stein says. “We are honored that the Ed School has selected us for our activism and for our collaboration.”

Linn and Stein received the award during HGSE’s 2007 convocation. The HGSE Alumni Council first established the Alumni Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education in 1985 in order to recognize the significance of service to education by alumni. This is the first time the Ed School has given the award to two people.

“By giving this honor, we celebrate the work and life of an alumnus who has made a profound contribution to the field of education,” says Mark Johnson, Alumni Council Chair. “This year, we are delighted to recognize two alumni, Eleanor Linn and Nan Stein, for the impact their work has had – and will continue to have – in the lives of young women and men in our schools.”

Each year, the Alumni Relations Office solicits nominations for the award from the alumni body. Candidates must be graduates of HGSE and have made a noteworthy contribution to education during their professional careers.

“This award is for our shared work in building a movement, the movement to recognize the problem of sexual harassment in schools and requirement for school districts to enforce the civil rights of their students to be able to go to school in an environment that is conducive to learning, safe, and free from sex discrimination and sexual harassment,” Stein says.