ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:
Joan Ferrini-Mundy, Assistant Director, Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR), National Science Foundation
Joan Ferrini-Mundy is the National Science Foundation’s assistant director who leads NSF’s Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR), a position she has held since February 2011. Ferrini-Mundy is responsible for setting the vision and establishing the mission of EHR, whose budget in FY 2012 was more than $800 million, with a staff of more than 150 people. She serves as a member of the NSF Senior Management Team and is involved in strategic planning and direction for the scientific and education mission of the NSF. Ferrini-Mundy’s current activities include a government-wide performance management effort; a leadership role in defining the NSF’s budget priorities for FY 2013 and 2014; and an ongoing collaboration with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in developing a government-wide strategic plan for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development. From 2007 through January 2011, she was an NSF member of the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Subcommittee on Education of the Committee on Science, and currently serves on two task forces of the new NSTC Committee on STEM Education. Ferrini-Mundy is currently a member of the Mathematics Expert Group of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). In 2007–2008, representing the NSF, she served as an ex-officio member of the President’s National Mathematics Advisory Panel. She has served on the Board of Directors of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and on the Board of Governors of the Mathematical Association of America. Ferrini-Mundy holds a PhD in Mathematics Education from the University of New Hampshire. Ferrini-Mundy holds an appointment at Michigan State University (MSU) as a University Distinguished Professor of Mathematics Education in the Departments of Mathematics and Teacher Education.
Claudine Brown, Assistant Secretary for Education and Access, Smithsonian Institution
Claudine Brown is the assistant secretary for education and access for the Smithsonian Institution. She is responsible for defining the Smithsonian’s education program and oversees five of the Smithsonian’s organizations—the Smithsonian Science Education Center, the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access Education, The Smithsonian Associates, Smithsonian Affiliates, and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service—and coordinates 32 education-based offices in museums and science centers. In 1990, she joined the Smithsonian to serve as director of the National African-American Museum Project. In this position, she coordinated the efforts of advisory committees that considered the role of the Smithsonian in the development of a national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, art, history, and culture. She developed the Smithsonian’s final study on the project and a program plan for the proposed museum. In 1991, she became the deputy assistant secretary for the arts and humanities and developed policy for many Smithsonian museums. In the past, Brown has been the director of the arts and culture program at the Nathan Cummings Foundation in New York. During her tenure at the foundation, Brown worked to strengthen community-based arts education programs and worked with innovative organizations that have helped creative young people acquire new-media literacy. Brown earned her bachelor’s degree from Pratt Institute in New York City and her master’s degree in Museum Education from Bank Street College of Education. She earned her law degree from Brooklyn Law School.
