Ed. Magazine From the Charles to the Potomac Posted September 23, 2009 By Lory Hough We're not a school of government, yet Ed School graduates play a huge role in education policy around the world, especially in Washington, D.C. In fact, graduates are employed in nearly every agency and department, from the departments of labor, energy, and commerce to the Consumer Product Safety Commission to the Library of Congress. Many, of course, also work for the U.S. Department of Education as undersecretaries, writers, policy analysts, and education program specialists, to name a few. Below are a sampling of positions held by Ed School graduates currently working for the federal government.U.S. Department of EducationMartha Kanter, Ed.M.'74, undersecretary; Marshall "Mike" Smith, Ed.M.'63, Ed.D.'70, senior counselor to Secretary Arne Duncan; John Silvanus Wilson Jr., Ed.M.'82, Ed.D.'85, executive director, White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities; Robert Shireman, Ed.M.'89, deputy undersecretary; Gabriella Gomez, Ed.M.'01, assistant secretary for legislation and congressional affairs; Zakiya Smith, Ed.M.'07, director of government relationsU.S. Congress Roberto Rodriguez, Ed.M.'98, senior education advisor, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA); Sophia King, Ed.M.'99, chief of staff, Representative Gregory Meeks (D-NY)U.S. Department of State Erin Renner, Ed.M.'05, Laura Hochla, Ed.M.'05, Francis Cheever Jr., M.A.T.'71, Jennifer Lawson, Ed.M.'05, and Dina Tamburrino, Ed.M.'08, foreign service officersU.S. Department of EnergyBarbara Twigg, M.A.T.'72, communications officer, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable EnergyU.S. Environmental Protection AgencyPaul Shapiro, Ed.M.'66, senior environmental engineerU.S. Department of Homeland SecurityEdward Wright Jr., C.A.S.'74, senior budget officer; Julia Chiu, Ed.M.'03, disaster assistance directoratePeace Corps Nanayaa Kumi, Ed.M.'08, recruitment and placement specialist, Peace Corps Response National Institute for Literacy Lynn Reddy, Ed.M.'98, deputy director Ed. Magazine The magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education Explore All Articles Related Articles News Lost in Translation New comparative study from Ph.D. candidate Maya Alkateb-Chami finds strong correlation between low literacy outcomes for children and schools teaching in different language from home News The Rapid Rise of Private Tutoring In his research, doctoral candidate Edward Kim examines the rarely studied phenomenon of private tutoring and how it can contribute to issues of inequality in education. News A Personalized Learning App Helps Close the Divide Master’s student Iman Usman's innovative startup Ruangguru serves more than 25 million learners in Southeast Asia with high-quality, personalized content.