UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Gerald LeTendre, professor of education and international affairs and head of the department of education policy studies for the Penn State College of Education, has been named the Harry Lawrence Batschelet II Chair of Educational Administration.
LeTendre received his bachelor’s degree in sociology from Harvard University where he was the recipient of the Rockefeller Fellowship, which allowed him to complete fieldwork with Tibetan refugees. He later went on to earn a master’s degree in sociology and a doctorate in education from Stanford University, where he earned three research awards from the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies for his research surrounding international issues.
“I am extremely honored to have been offered the Batschelet Chair, and look forward to working with my colleagues in educational leadership and across the college to support the growth and development of new areas within educational administration that will promote educational excellence and equity in schools around the world,” he said. “I am committed to advancing programs of research that emphasize instructional leadership, more diverse leadership roles for teachers, and understanding how institutional or organizational environments affect the range and quality of work that teachers undertake.”
During his tenure with the College of Education, LeTendre has received multiple awards for his research and service, including the Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship, Outstanding Faculty Award, and Outstanding Study of the Year Award. He held the title of Harry and Marion Eberly Faculty Fellow from 2001 to 2004, and he was a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of Bermen in Germany in 2003.
His current research focuses on national and international education, including the exploration of changing work roles for teachers cross-nationally and the diffusion of prevention programs in schools worldwide. He also is associate editor of the American Journal of Education and is an editorial board member for the Comparative Education Review.
The Harry Lawrence Batschelet II Chair of Educational Administration is intended to continue and further scholarly excellence through contributions to instruction, research and public service to support the field of educational administration. It was established in 2001 as the result of a gift from Batschelet, a 1953 graduate of the College of Education and former vice president for financial development at the American National Red Cross.
The Batschelet Chair is one of five faculty endowments in the College of Education. The others are the Kenneth B. Waterbury Chair in Secondary Education, held by Richard A. Duschl; the Henry J. Hermanowicz Professorship in Education, held by Gwendolyn Lloyd; the Gilbert and Donna Kahn Professorship in Education in Recognition of David H. Monk and Graham B. Spanier, held by Carla M. Zembal-Saul; and the Harry and Marion Royer Eberly Faculty Fellowship in Education, held by P. Karen Murphy.