Venturing Out

When Ruth Moorman and Sheldon Simon decided to host a dinner for a dean from Stanford Graduate School of Education, they never expected to make a Harvard connection. But when the couple met then-Dean Kathleen McCartney at the dinner, their interest in the Ed School was piqued.

McCartney spoke about the school's Doctorate of Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.) Program, which at the time was accepting applications for its inaugural cohort.

"We saw the Ed.L.D. as a game-changer," Moorman says. The program "was serious about practice in a way that doesn't often happen at education schools."

Simon and Moorman are longtime supporters of education programs at Boston University and the University of Pennsylvania. "We had developed a belief that our commitment to education could be best served by investing in schools of education," he says. After meeting McCartney and hearing about the Ed.L.D.'s unique combination of interdisciplinary courses and practical experience, the couple sponsored a student in the program's first cohort.

"We should support educational leaders the way we support business leaders," Moorman explains. "The Ed.L.D. Program has already produced some unique educational leaders." With the program in its fourth year and thriving, Moorman and Simon began to look for other ways to invest in the Ed School.

As the Ed School prepares to launch its capital campaign this fall, Dean James Ryan is raising seed money for the Dean's Venture Fund, which allows him to provide faculty members with the resources to launch new collaborative projects. Moorman and Simon are committed to supporting the Dean's Venture Fund and following the progress of the initiatives it will underwrite.

"Being a dean often means putting some of your own research aside," Moorman says. "Jim wants to pursue the projects he's excited about, but he also wants to bring everyone together. He invites everyone to participate."

Simon agrees. "This isn't about commercial applications, the way a start-up venture fund might be. This is about the Ed School leading the charge, being innovative in an academic way, and then applying those changes to the education system. We can't keep relying on the old models to improve education."

The couple hopes that the Ed School will become a laboratory for innovative ideas, which will be tested in Cambridge and then spread to urban areas and school districts, starting in Boston and eventually expanding across the country and the world.

"The education school is really that intersection of people, practice, and policy," Moorman says. "It's where everyone should meet."

"The new Harvard is very inclusive," Simon adds. "Alumni and non-alumni, people from across the campus — everyone has a place at the table. Jim is building a community of learners and researchers. It's about community and collaboration."