John Q. Easton, director of the Institute of Education Sciences in Washington, D.C., will return to Chicago to take a position as Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Spencer Foundation. Easton, the former executive director and one of the founders of the University of Chicago’s Consortium on Chicago School Research, was nominated to head IES by President Barack Obama in 2009. At Spencer, Easton will play a lead role with the board and staff in developing a program of work on research-practice partnerships in education (similar to the Consortium, which works with Chicago Public Schools and is one of the nation’s leading research-practice partnerships). Easton will also serve as a collaborator in and advisor to various Spencer projects and activities. Easton has a doctorate from the University of Chicago.
Jerry Fuller, Executive Director of the Associated Colleges of Illinois, will join the James S. Kemper Foundation as its Executive Director on November 3. The Kemper Foundation promotes liberal arts education coupled with workplace experience as the basis for career preparation. Fuller served as head of ACI, a network of private colleges and universities that focuses on helping low-income, minority and first-generation students complete college, since 1995.