Teach for America Founder to Discuss Educational Equity

Wendy Kopp

Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America and recipient of the prestigious UCSF Medal this year, will talk about "Educational Equity Within Reach" at UCSF on Thursday, May 3. The event is sponsored by the UCSF Center for Gender Equity and the Science & Health Education Partnership. Kopp has spent the last 17 years building the movement to eliminate educational inequity. She founded Teach for America in 1989 to help raise the educational standards in the nation's neediest schools. Kopp is the president and founder of Teach for America, a national corps that trains and then sends top recent college graduates of all academic majors to teach for at least two years in urban and rural public schools. Kopp will share her story about how she started and grew Teach for America and the lessons she learned along the way, at noon in Toland Hall on the UCSF Parnassus campus. In the 2006-2007 school year, 4,400 Teach for America educators worked across the country, reaching about 375,000 students. They join more than 12,000 Teach for America alumni who, still in their 20s and 30s, are already assuming significant leadership roles in education and social reform. Kopp holds numerous honorary degrees and in 2006 was named one of America's best leaders by US News and World Report. She will receive the prestigious UCSF Medal at the Founders Day Banquet in the evening on May 3. For more information, please contact Victoria Auer. Related Links: Chancellor to Award UCSF Medals to Four Leaders on May 3