Gloria Ladson-Billings

Gloria Ladson-Billings is Professor Emerita and former Kellner Family Distinguished Professor in Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction and was Faculty Affiliate in the Departments of Educational Policy Studies, Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis and Afro American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the Immediate Past President of the National Academy of Education. She was the 2005--2006 president of the American Educational Research Association. In 2021 she was named a Corresponding Fellow the British Academy. She is a 2020-2021 Hagler Institute Fellow at Texas A&M University. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. She is the inaugural Distinguished Scholar in Race and Social Justice for the Rutgers Graduate School of Education. Ladson-Billings’ research examines the pedagogical practices of teachers who are successful with African American students. She also investigates Critical Race Theory applications to education.

Ladson-Billings is the author of the critically acclaimed books, "The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children," (currently in its 3rd edition), "Crossing over to Canaan: The Journey of New Teachers in Diverse Classrooms," and "Beyond the Big House: African American Educators on Teacher Education" and recently released "Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Asking a Different Question," and "Critical Race Theory: A Scholar’s Journey." She is editor of 6 other books and author of more than 100 journal articles and book chapters. She is the former editor of the American Educational Research Journal and a member of several editorial boards. Her work has won numerous scholarly awards, including the H. I. Romnes Faculty Fellowship, Spencer Post-doctoral Fellowship, and the Palmer O. Johnson outstanding research award. She is the 2015 winner of the Social Justice in Education Award given by the American Educational Research Association. She was named the 2012 winner of the Brock International Prize in education.

During the 2003--2004 academic year she was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, California. In fall 2004 she received the George and Louise Spindler Award from the Council on Anthropology and Education for significant and ongoing contributions to the field of educational anthropology. In spring 2005 she was elected to the National Academy of Education and the National Society for the Study of Education. In 2007, she was awarded the Hilldale Award, the highest faculty honor given to a professor at the University of Wisconsin for outstanding research, teaching, and service. She is a 2008 recipient of the state of Wisconsin’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Heritage Award and the Teachers College, Columbia University 2008 Distinguished Service Medal. In 2009 she was elected to Kappa Delta Pi International Education Honor Society’s Laureate Chapter—comprised of 60 living distinguished scholars. Former laureate members include notables such as Albert Einstein, John Dewey and Eleanor Roosevelt. Ladson-Billings was one of the NEA Foundation Fellows charged with providing advice on its “Achievement Gap Initiative.”

In 2014, she was a panelist on the White House’s African American Educational Excellence Initiative’s Essence Festival, “Smart Starts at Home” panel. In 2015 she received the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from the Literacy Research Association. In 2016 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Benjamin Banneker Association of the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics. In Fall 2017 she received the John Nisbet Award from the British Educational Research Association at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. In April 2018 she received the American Educational Research Association’s Distinguished Research Award and the Division B (Curriculum Studies) Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ladson-Billings has an active community life that includes serving on several community boards such as the Urban League of Greater Madison, the Madison Children’s Museum, the United Way of Dane County, and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure of Madison. She is a member of the Links, Inc. and a 50-year plus member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. At the 2017 Leadership Summit she was named the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. International Citizen of the Year. As an active member of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church of Madison, WI she is the 2nd woman named to the 109 year old church’s Board of Deacons.