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Since 1926, our school has been a close-knit community of students, faculty, and staff committed to improving lives for individuals and communities. See what makes us special.
SESP students, faculty, and alumni are catalysts of broad and meaningful change for individuals and systems alike. Meet some of our people making a difference in SESP and beyond, through both their work and service.
At SESP, we partner with the community, where our research findings can make the greatest difference. These mutually beneficial collaborations let us to test new ideas, develop better practices, and spread discoveries to benefit as many people as possible.
The Morton Schapiro Northwestern Academy for Chicago Public Schools increases access and successful matriculation of underrepresented, academically motivated Chicago Public Schools students. Thanks to the Academy, these talented students are put on a path to attend some of the country’s top-tier colleges and universities. To date, graduates have attended more than 115 different colleges and universities, including Northwestern, Harvard, Yale, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Black Kids Predict gets students interested in data science to revamp the pipeline of talent. The curriculum expands 6th-12th grade kids' idea of data and computer sciences from a geeky desk job they don’t want, to a superpower. Led by college-aged students from diverse backgrounds, the program emphasizes the practical uses of STEM education and learning to see data differently.
STEAMbassadors trains college-bound 18 to 24-year-olds from under resourced communities to work with youngsters whose neighborhoods lack learning opportunities and role models in the fields of computer science, engineering, and the arts. STEAMbassadors are assigned to a neighborhood organization that partners with Chicago Department of Family Support Services programs in parks, libraries, and schools to help build an out-of-school learning ecosystem across the city.
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Mitchell S. Jackson, the John O. Whiteman Dean’s Distinguished Professorship in the English Department of Arizona State University, will be the featured speaker during the 2024 School of Education and Social Policy Convocation ceremony at Northwestern University.
Megan Bang and Uri Wilensky were elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies.
Undergraduates Alivia Britton (left) and Mel McDaniel are co-chairs of Northwestern University’s annual student-run Spring Pow Wow, an intergenerational cultural celebration sponsored by the Native American and Indigenous Student Alliance.
Alumni Kathryn “Kate” Bowman and Neva Legallet are working for Bay Area city government as part of the San Francisco Fellows program.
Kaylyn Ahn (right), a junior at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social policy, was one of two Northwestern students to be named a 2024 Truman Scholar, the nation’s premier scholarship for students interested in public service.