Education Adviser Robert M. Shireman Joins Aspen Institute

1/27/2003

From: Heather A. Cooper of The Aspen Institute, 202-736-3848

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 -- The Aspen Institute announced today that Robert M. Shireman, a former education policy advisor to President Clinton, has joined the Institute's Program on Education in a Changing Society as a senior fellow. Mr. Shireman will help the program build on its recent work with state and local policymakers to identify strategies for transforming high schools nationwide. He will help launch the program's next phase focused on improving the transition for students from high school to college, work and citizenship.

"It is a tremendous opportunity to be joining the Aspen Institute when so much national attention is focused on education issues," said Mr. Shireman. He added: "I look forward to working with outstanding educators and leaders in the field to bring about positive change in our nation's schools and colleges and to develop and pursue a policy agenda for the future."

"Bob Shireman has valuable experience in education and public policy," said Nancy Pelz-Paget, director of the Institute's Education Program. "We are very enthusiastic about the contributions we believe he will make to enhancing the program's impact."

Mr. Shireman most recently led the James Irvine Foundation's efforts to improve college campus diversity in California through direct grants and advocacy. In national policy circles, he has proposed rewarding colleges for enrolling students from lower-income families.

Mr. Shireman served as senior policy advisor to President Clinton at the White House National Economic Council, where he addressed issues such as access to higher education, investment in school construction, Latino/a education and the America Reads tutoring program. Prior to this position, he was Senator Paul Simon's education advisor and legislative director, where he led efforts to protect and increase federal education funding and aided in the reformation of the complex student loan system. Mr. Shireman's earlier work included lobbying for consumer and environmental protection and government accountability for the California Public Interest Research Group and for Consumers Union, Inc.

Since its founding in 1974, the Aspen Institute Program on Education in a Changing Society has served as a trusted and neutral convener of intensely focused policy workshops with policymakers, researchers, analysts, practitioners and education and social policy leaders from diverse backgrounds and communities. These workshops have helped those in leadership positions at the federal, state, and local levels identify sound and politically feasible responses to the pressing education issues of the day. The program has influenced the development of significant issues in the past decade including: the emerging shape of school reform; national education goals; and the implications of technology for education. Its current focus is on the strategies and policies necessary to transform the American high school.

As senior fellow, Mr. Shireman joins co-chairs Michael Timpane, former president of Teachers College and senior education advisor at the RAND Corporation; and Michael O'Keefe, president, Minneapolis College of Art and Design; and Nancy Pelz-Paget, the program's director. Michael Cohen, the program's first senior fellow and current president of Achieve Inc., continues to work with the program as a key resource on program content and the program's networks of urban superintendents and chief state school officers.

The Aspen Institute, founded in 1950, is an international organization dedicated to informed dialogue and inquiry on issues of global concern. Through its seminar and policy programs, the Institute convenes leaders and policymakers to address the foremost challenges of the new century. The Institute operates internationally through a network of partners in Europe and Asia and has offices in Aspen, Colorado, Washington, D.C., New York, NY, and on the Wye River on Maryland's Eastern Shore.