In January, the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Board of Trustees approved the creation of the Edmund W. Gordon Chair for Policy Evaluation and Research. The effort honored Gordon, the Richard March Hoe Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Education and Director of the Institute of Urban and Minority Education at TC.

Gordon was Vice President of Academic Affairs and Interim Dean at Teachers College from July 2000 to August 2001. He is also the John M. Musser Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Yale University. Gordon is the author of more than 200 journal articles and book chapters and more than 15 books. He was one of the founders and designers of the Head Start program and helped write the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, among many other achievements. A January 2003 article in the New York Times said Gordon "could reasonably be called one of the leading psychologists of our era and the premier black psychologist."

According to Kurt Landgraf, President and CEO of ETS, "Dr. Gordon is one of the conceptual leaders of several major developments in education, including Head Start, compensatory education, career education, school desegregation, alternatives in educational assessment, and supplementary education. This chair will provide a vehicle for ETS to honor the achievements of both Dr. Gordon and a member of our staff who is building on the foundations he created."

"I feel great appreciation and pride in accepting the honor of having a chair established at ETS to memorialize my career as an educator," said Gordon. "It is a unique privilege to have my name etched alongside those of my late friends Henry Chauncey, Samuel Messick and the renowned Frederick Lord, and it's a personal pleasure to see my colleague and friend Michael Nettles named as the first occupant of the Edmund W. Gordon Chair for Policy Evaluation and Research. My cup is running over."

The ETS Board of Trustees resolution reads: "As ETS moves forward in our goal of advancing quality and equity in education, we can think of no greater scholar to honor and emulate than Edmund W. Gordon. A chair in his name will give added stature to our Policy Evaluation and Research Center and to the person chosen to fill that position. Furthermore, it will signal ETS's commitment to the values of equity and social justice in education that Dr. Gordon has long espoused."

"Dr. Gordon has been a tireless champion for equity and social justice in education during his distinguished career as a minister, psychologist, author, educator, and research scholar," said Eleanor Horne, Vice President and Corporate Secretary at ETS. "His seminal work on issues of affirmative development and minority student achievement is world-renowned and has changed the face of education in the United States."

Founded in 1947, ETS is the world's largest private, nonprofit educational testing and measurement organization and a leader in education research. ETS products and services measure knowledge and skills, promote learning and performance, and support education and professional development.

Published Monday, Sep. 13, 2004