DAN E. SWEAT LECTURE SERIES
Educational and Community Policy
Distinguished Chair in Educational and Community Policy
As a memorial to visionary leadership and commitment to the community and to learning in all forms, Georgia State University has created the Dan E. Sweat Distinguished Scholar Chair in Educational Community Policy.
Ross Rubenstein currently holds this position.
The 2025 Dan E. Sweat Lecture
April 16 at 10:30 AM – Douglas N. Harris
“What Future for Schools Should We “Choose”? Charter Schools, Vouchers, and the Future of American Education”
55 Park Place, NE, Suite 903/904, Atlanta GA 30303
Douglas Harris is Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics, the Schlieder Foundation Chair in Public Education, founding Director of both the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans (ERA-New Orleans) and Director of the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice (REACH), all at Tulane University. He is the author of three books including, most recently, Charter School City: What the End of Traditional Public Schools in New Orleans Means for American Education (University of Chicago Press, 2020).
He is also the lead editor of the forthcoming AEFP Live Handbook of Education Policy. The handbook will provide open-access summaries of a wide variety of topics in pre-K, K-12, and higher education, written by leading experts. As a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, he is also directing the State of the Nation Project. The project’s board includes representatives from seven of the nation’s leading think tanks and advisors to the last five U.S. presidents with a goal of identifying and reporting on the most important measures that address the question, how are we doing as a country?
Harris has testified in the U.S. Senate and advised governors in eight states, the U.S. Department of Education, and Biden Transition. His work has also been cited in almost every major national and international media outlet.
2024
Rucker Johnson (University of California, Berkeley: Chancellor’s Professor, Public Policy in the Goldman School of Public Policy)
“The Anatomy of School Spending Effectiveness: Going Beyond Whether Money Matters Toward ‘How’, ‘Why’, ‘When’, ‘For Whom’, & ‘Which Types’? – New Evidence from California’s Local Control Funding Formula”
2023
Laura Perna (University of Pennsylvania: Vice Provost for Faculty, GSE Centennial Presidential Professor of Education, and Executive Director of the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy)
2022
Sean Reardon (Stanford University: Professor of Poverty and Inequality in Education & Professor of Sociology)
2020
Mark D. Weist (University of South Carolina: College of Arts & Sciences Professor of Psychology)
2019
Charles Clotfelter (Duke University: Smith Reynolds Professor of Public Policy & Professor of Economics & Law)
2018
Amy Ellen Schwartz (Syracuse University: Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, New York University: Institute for Education and Social Policy)
2017
David N. Figlio (Northwestern University; Dean of the School of Education and Social Policy, Institute for Policy Research Fellow)
2016
Susan Dynarski (University of Michigan: Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, School of Education, and Department of Economics, and Institute for Social Research)
2013
Sarah Turner (University of Virginia and National Bureau of Economic Research)
“Public Universities: Challenges of the Great Recession for Students and Faculty”
2012
Brian Jacob (Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Education Policy and Professor of Economics, University of Michigan)
“Does Raising Educational Standards Raise Student Achievement?”
2011
Analysis and a Co- Director of Policy Analysis for California Education [PACE]at Stanford University)
“Understanding School Leadership: The Importance of Organizational Management and Personnel Practices”
2009
Amy Stuart Wells (Center for Understanding Race and Education (CURE) at Teachers College, Columbia University)
“Metro Migration, Racial Segregation and School Boundaries: Education Policy in Changing Suburban and Urban America”
2007
Richard J . Murnane (Harvard Graduate School of Education)
“Preparing Students to Thrive in the 21st Century Economy”
2006
Jane Hannaway (The Urban Institute)
“Accountability and the Classroom: A New Light Inside the Black Box of Schooling”
2005
Eric A. Hanushek (Hoover Institute at Stanford University)
“The Economic Importance of School Quality”
2004
Ronald F. Ferguson (Werner Center for Social Policy)
“The Racial Gap in Education Outcomes: Confronting the Challenge”