Honoree, A. Noam Chomsky Global Connections Award
Northstar Medal of Lifetime Achievement
This award is our premier acknowledgment of outstanding achievement and success in transnational research. It honors senior scholars whose lifelong service, leadership and contributions serve as a guiding north star for scholarly collaboration in research.
Vigo, Spain. During the 2023 STAR Global Conference, Dr. Gloria Jean Ladson-Billings was recognized with the highest honor bestowed by the STAR Scholars Network annually. Dr. Ladson-Billings is an American pedagogical theorist and teacher educator known for her work in the fields of culturally relevant pedagogy and critical race theory applications to education, and the pernicious effects of systemic racism and economic inequality on educational opportunities. Ladson-Billings is well-recognized by the research community as an innovative educator. She is the author or co-author of 16 books, 54 journal articles, 72 book chapters.
Dr. Ladson-Billings is widely successful for her scholarly contribution. Her book, “The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African-American Children” is a significant text in the field of education to envision intellectually rigorous and culturally relevant classrooms that have the power to improve the lives of not just African American students, but all children. Ladson-Billings is the pioneer of “Culturally Responsive Teaching,” a pedagogy that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
In Dr. Ladson-Billings’ book, “Crossing Over to Canaan: The Journey of New Teachers in Diverse Classrooms (2001)” explores, as implied by the title, the struggles and successes of new teachers crossing cultural boundaries. In her book, “Beyond the Big House: African American Educators on Teacher Education (2005),” profiles seven prominent African American teacher educators—Cherry McGee Banks, Lisa Delpit, Geneva Gay, Carl Grant, Joyce King, Jacqueline Jordan Irvine, and William Tate.
Dr. Ladson-Billings is Professor Emerita and formerly the Kellner Family Distinguished Professor of Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Ladson-Billings served as President of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in 2005–2006.
During the 2005 AERA annual meeting in San Francisco, Dr. Ladson-Billings delivered her presidential address, “From the Achievement Gap to the Education Debt: Understanding Achievement in U.S. Schools,” in which she outlined what she called the “education debt” highlighting the combination of historical, moral, socio-political, and economic factors that have disproportionately affected African-American, Latino, Asian, and other non-white students. In 2021 she was elected a corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.
Dr. Ladson-Billings’ contribution to the field of education empowers the underserved communities of students across the globe and advocates for shaping a humane world for all humanity.
