Ramón Cortines named interim director of Annenberg Institute

Ramón Cortines, former chancellor of New York City Schools from 1993-95, has been appointed interim director of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Ramón Cortines, former chancellor of New York City schools from 1993-95, has been appointed interim director of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform (AISR). The appointment, made by Brown University President E. Gordon Gee, was announced Jan. 13, 1998.

Cortines is currently executive director of the Pew Network on Standards Based Reform at Stanford University and a senior adviser to Secretary of Education Richard Riley. He also is a member of the Institute's Board of Overseers and a trustee of Brown University.

"Through the Annenberg Institute and other campus-based education-based efforts, Brown University is working hand-in-hand with parents, educators and policymakers to help improve the education of our nation's children," said Gee. "We are absolutely delighted that a person of Mr. Cortines' caliber is willing to help advance the work of the Institute and to assist the Institute in finding permanent leadership."

"Ramón Cortines is an outstanding educator. We are most grateful that he has agreed to serve in this role," said Vartan Gregorian, Brown's president emeritus, who stepped down as acting director of the institute on Jan. 1, 1998. Gregorian succeeded Professor Theodore Sizer, who retired from Brown in 1996.

In preparation for a national search to name a permanent director for the Institute, Cortines will work with AISR managing director John Bryan Starr and with Barbara Cervone, national coordinator for the Annenberg Challenge, to review the Institute's current agenda and clarify its relationship to the 20 sites and organizations nationwide that are recipients of Annenberg Challenge grants. He intends to carry out an external review of the Institute's work to date, assessing the organization's mission and objectives and evaluating what it has accomplished during the four years since its founding.

Gee has asked Cortines to chair the search committee, which will be made up of members of the Institute's Board of Overseers and the Brown University faculty. The work of the search committee is expected to be completed and an appointment made by June 30, 1998.

For additional information about the Institute, contact Jeffrey Kimpton at (401) 863-7975.

The Annenberg Institute for School Reform

The Annenberg Institute for School Reform was created in 1993 with initial funding of $5 million from private donors. A $50-million gift from the Annenberg Challenge in 1993 expanded the Institute's mission and scope and provided long-range support. The Institute's work is focused in three areas: developing the capacity of those who work in schools to meet high standards and initiate change; rethinking accountability as a means for schools to improve as well as measure their performance; and engaging the public as participants in and advocates for public education. Unlike the Annenberg Foundation, the Annenberg Institute makes no grants.