Phi Delta Kappa Chapter 1144

February 8

PDK1144 Educational Forum

Guest Speaker: Stephanie Norby

  Director, Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies

>

Stephanie L. Norby is the Executive Director of the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies, where she oversees pan-institutional initiatives and programs including internships, publications, educational web-sites and online conferences, heritage month celebrations, and educational partnerships.  One of the websites, SmithsonianEducation.org, represents the Smithsonian’s 19 museums and 9 research centers and received the People’s Voice Webby Award for Best Cultural Website for two consecutive years.  Smithsonian in Your Classroom, a publication sent to schools across the country,  has received top awards from the American Association of Museums, the Association of Government Communicators, and The American Library Association.

 Norby, who grew up in Los Angeles, taught in California in both urban and rural schools.  She worked in the Kansas City, Missouri School District from 1986 until 1998, serving as director of curriculum, professional development and assessment.  In this position, she was responsible for developing the K-12 curriculum and assessments in all subjects, major curriculum purchases including library resources and textbooks, professional development for 4,000 educators and paraprofessionals, and development of magnet school themes and programs.  She also worked in the museum community as a director of a county historical museum system and as a historian planning public programs, permanent and traveling exhibits, tours and lecture series. 

She received her bachelor of science degree from the University of California at Davis and a master’s of history degree at the University of Missouri.  She also attended graduate school at the University of California Long Beach in education at the University of  Kansas in museum studies.

Photos of 2011 Educational Forum on Cultural Competencies