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Deborah Stipek is Professor and former dean of Education and (by courtesy) sociology at Stanford University. Her scholarship concerns instructional effects on children’s achievement motivation and early childhood education. She is particularly concerned about policies and practices that afford children of color and children living in poverty the educational advantages of their more affluent peers. Her current focus is on strategies to develop young children’s basic academic skills while supporting their social-emotional development and motivation. In addition to her scholarship, she was an SRCD Fellow, working in the office of Senator Bill Bradley; she served for five years on the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the National Academy of Sciences, and is a member of the National Academy of Education. Dr. Stipek served 10 of her 23 years at UCLA as Director of the Corinne Seeds University Elementary School and the Urban Education Studies Center. She joined the Stanford School of Education as Dean and Professor of Education in January 2001 and stepped down as dean in September 2011.