Announcement
June 28, 2007
Dear Colleagues:
Professor Lauren Resnick has told me that she wishes to step down from her responsibilities as Director of the University of Pittsburgh Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) in the summer of 2008. Dr. Resnick, University Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science, has served as Director of LRDC since 1977. She wishes to focus on her internationally renowned research and will continue to serve in her role as Director of the Institute of Learning. Her decision to step down from the LRDC directorship concludes 30 years of notably successful administrative leadership and service in that position to the Center and to the University.
Professor Resnick is the founder and Director of the Institute for Learning, providing organizational design and professional training services to urban school districts across the nation and conducting research on learning and teaching advances in those districts. She was also the co-founder and co-director of the New Standards Project, which developed educational standards and assessments for school districts and governments.
Dr. Resnick has won the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction Oeuvre Award for outstanding contributions to the science of learning and instruction, the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Edward L. Thorndike Award for distinguished contributions to psychology of education, and APA’s 2007 Distinguished Contribution of Applications of Psychology to Education and Training Award. She is a lifetime national associate of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine; a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and a fellow of the American Psychological Association. She was founding editor of Cognition and Instruction and, more recently, of Research Points. She is past president of the American Educational Research Association. She has been awarded honorary doctorates by three European universities.
It has been an honor to work with Dr. Resnick, both in her role as director and in her participation in the activities of our Council of Deans. A search committee will be formed in the coming months, chaired by Vice Provost George E. Klinzing, with the intention of identifying a new director of the Learning Research and Development Center by next summer.
Sincerely,