The Coalition for Science After School is guided by a Steering Committee of leaders from the afterschool and informal science fields, who provide advice, ideas, inspiration, and links to resources for our Director and our members. We are happy to announce a new addition to our Steering Committee, Dr. Kris Gutierrez.
Dr. Gutierrez is Professor of Literacy and Learning Sciences and holds the Inaugural Provost's Chair at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is also Professor Emerita of Social Research Methodology in the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles where she also served as Director of the Education Studies Minor and Director of the Center for the Study of Urban Literacies. As Immediate Past President of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and a Research Fellow at the National Conference on Research on Language and Literacy, she brings expertise in the areas of out-of-school time learning as well as learning environments for non-dominant communities and English Language Learners.
Dr. Gutierrez has received a number of awards and honors for her research and leadership, including recently being elected to the national Academy of Education and a nomination from President Obama to be on the Board for the Institute of Education Sciences. She has also served on a number of advisory boards, including the U.S. Department of Education Reading First Advisory Committee and President Obama’s Education Policy Transition Team.
Also notably, Dr. Gutierrez has extensive experience in the afterschool and out-of-school time learning fields. For the past 15 years, she has served as the principal investigator and director of an afterschool computer program for low-income and immigrant children. She also served for more than a decade as the Director of the UCLA Migrant Scholars Leadership Program, a residential summer program for high school students from migrant farmworker backgrounds.
We look forward to incorporating Dr. Gutierrez’s guidance and leadership into the mission of the Coalition for Science After School.