Rubén Donato has been elected to join the National Academy of Education (NAEd), which advances high quality education research and its use in policy and practice, the Academy announced this year.
Donato came to CU Boulder in 1993 and is now professor of educational foundations, policy and practice and faculty chair. As an educational historian, Donato studies the historical dimensions of educational equality and has delved into the educational history of Latino education in the United States. He is the author of The Other Struggle for Equal Schools: Mexican Americans during the Civil Rights Era and Mexicans and Hispanos in Colorado Schools and Communities, 1920-1960.
“As a leading educational historian in the United States, Professor Donato has contributed in immeasurable ways to our understanding of the educational histories of Mexican Americans in Colorado and the Southwest, as well as to our knowledge of discriminatory policies and practices that have historically excluded Latinx students from U.S. schools,” said Dean Kathy Schultz.
Several CU Boulder scholars have been elected members in the Academy, including Lorrie Shepard who is an NAEd member and former NAEd president. Donato joins 14 newly elected Academy members who will be inducted during the 2020 NAEd Annual Meeting in November.
NAEd members are elected on the basis of outstanding scholarship related to education and their valuable education research and policy contributions. Nominations are submitted by individual Academy members once a year for review and election by the organization’s membership. In addition to serving on expert study panels that address pressing issues in education, members are also deeply engaged in the organization’s professional development programs such as the NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship Program and the NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship Program.
“This diverse group of scholars are at the forefront of those who are improving the lives of students in the United States and abroad through their outstanding contributions to education scholarship and research,” NAEd President Gloria Ladson-Billings said.