Published: February 2008
This August, Anthony Bryk ’70 will take over one of the most powerful positions in U.S. higher education, having been named in January the new president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, one of the nation’s leading education policy institutions. “Carnegie provides a platform for significant change,” wrote Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute shortly after Bryk’s selection. “Bryk is the rare scholar and reformer equal to the opportunities it presents.”
Considered one of the nation’s eminent researchers on school organization and reform, Bryk graduated from Boston College with an undergraduate degree in chemistry before earning a doctorate in measurement and statistics at Harvard. Teaching at Harvard, the University of Chicago, and Stanford, he has been a professor of education, sociology, and urban studies. Most recently, he was Stanford’s Spencer Chair of Organizational Studies, a joint position in education and business. “Tony is a perfect match for the foundation,” said David S. Tatel, chairman of the Carnegie board, in a press release about the selection. “He has a tremendous ability to think and act across disciplines and bring together theory and practice.”
Over the course of his 30 years of working for education reform, Bryk has been honored with the first Thomas B. Fordham Foundation Prize for Distinguished Contributions to Education, and the American Educational Research Association’s highest honor, the Distinguished Career Contributions Award. In addition to his teaching duties, Bryk has formed two of the country’s preeminent educational think tanks: the Center for Urban School Improvement, and the Consortium on Chicago School Research. His Catholic Schools and the Common Good (Harvard, 1993) is considered a classic in its exploration of how Catholic schools aid disadvantaged students.
- “Kudos for Carnegie,” by Frederick M. Hess and Rosemary Kendrick, in the January 15, 2008, edition of The American
- Catholic Schools and the Common Good, by Anthony Bryk, on Google Books
- Profile of Bryk published in November 2004, following his dual appointments at Stanford University, in Stanford Business
- Home page of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
