Lampert to Receive Alumni Council Award

Mary Magdalene Lampert, Ed.D.’81, will receive the 2014 Alumni Council Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education during HGSE’s 2014 convocation ceremony.

“I am thrilled that my professional accomplishments since graduating from the Harvard Graduate School of Education are being recognized by this award,” Lampert said. “My various research and development projects have been singularly devoted to the understanding of the practice of teaching all students to comprehend and use important ideas while treating them like sense makers who can themselves have important ideas. In the last 15 years, I have been investigating what it takes to learn to do this kind of teaching, particularly in high poverty schools. When I was at HGSE, it was hard to find people who were interested in these problems, and so getting this award suggests to me that the school has changed in significant ways toward an appreciation of practice and its complexities.”

A professor emerita at the University of Michigan and the senior adviser for the Boston Teacher Residency Program, Lampert has dedicated her career to studying and understanding the profession of teaching. A successful classroom teacher, Lampert taught teacher education classes at Michigan State University, then returned to the classroom to conduct on-the-ground research about math teaching and pedagogy. She created a collaborative environment in her classroom, making space for her students to solve problems together. The discoveries she made as she analyzed her own teaching and learning became part of the teacher education curriculum at several universities.

At the University of Michigan, Lampert has helped revamp the teacher education program to make better use of teaching practice, classroom materials, and classroom experience.  She has urged her colleagues to focus on the practice of teaching and to educate prospective teachers in more concrete ways.  As senior advisor for the Boston Teacher Residency, she is helping design a new teacher education framework for the program, which prepares and credentials teachers for the Boston Public Schools.

“The HGSE Alumni Council was moved to select Magdelene Lampert for the Outstanding Contribution to Education Award because of her deep commitment to the practice of impactful teaching,” said Christine Pina, Ed.M.’99, chair of the Alumni Council. “She has pioneered innovative teacher education programs that stress the importance of equipping teachers themselves with educational experiences that make them better practitioners and positively impact the classroom experience for students.”

HGSE first established the Alumni Council Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education in 1985 in order to recognize the significance of service to education by alumni. 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.