Dive Brief:
- Fourteen educational innovators are joining the ranks of Minerva Academy, an honorary institution that promotes and rewards exceptional advancement and innovation in higher ed worldwide.
- Among those chosen by the Minerva Institute for Research and Scholarship are three faculty from Minerva's partnership with KGI, three from Stanford, and three from the Ivy League.
- The 14 are also considered founding members of Minerva Academy along with its governor, Nobel Laureate Dr. Roger Kornberg. All 15 members will choose the first winner of a $500,000 Minerva Prize for Advancements in Higher Education in May.
Dive Insight:
The Minerva Institute for Research and Scholarship is the non-profit arm of the Minerva Project, a for-profit start-up that operates Minerva University. The online institution aims to acquire the prestige of an Ivy League institution, and also plans to have students live in dorms and study worldwide. The institute itself is tasked with attracting financial support for Minerva's research and academic programs.
Attracting the kind of scholars announced in the press release is a solid step toward that prestige, which, along with its model, will certainly help set it apart from existing online for-profits currently facing federal scrutiny — but it will still have to overcome the stigma attached to those schools in doing so.
The complete list of Minerva Academy inductees is below:
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Dr. Lloyd Armstrong, Provost Emeritus and University Professor of Education and of Physics, University of Southern California
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Dr. Ken Bain, President, Best Teachers Institute
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Dr. Derek Bok, 300th Anniversary University Research Professor, Professor of Law, and University President Emeritus, Harvard University
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Dr. Cathy Davidson, Ruth F. DeVarney Professor of English and the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Duke University
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Dr. Al Filreis, Kelly Family Professor of English, Director, Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing, Faculty Director, and Kelly Writers House, University of Pennsylvania
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Dr. Diane Halpern, Dean of the College of Social Sciences, Minerva Schools at KGI
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Dr. Stephen Kosslyn, Founding Dean, Minerva Schools at KGI
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Dr. Daniel Levitin, Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, Minerva Schools at KGI
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Dr. Eric Mazur, Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics and Dean of Applied Physics, Harvard University
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Dr. Roger Schank, founder and CEO, Socratic Arts and XTOL
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Dr. Sheri Sheppard, Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University
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Dr. Lee Shulman, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education Emeritus, Stanford University; President Emeritus, Carnegie Foundation
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Dr. Jennifer Summit, Professor of English, Stanford University
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Dr. Daniel Willingham, Professor of Psychology, University of Virginia