Gary Orfield
Harvard University

Gary Orfield is interested in the study of civil rights, education policy, urban policy, and minority opportunity. He is the director of the Harvard Project on School Desegregation, and codirector of the Harvard Civil Rights Project, which is developing and publishing a new generation of research on multiracial civil rights issues. Orfield's central interest has been the development and implementation of social policy, with a central focus on the impact of policy on equal opportunity for success in American society. Recent works include studies of changing patterns of school desegregation and the impact of diversity on the educational experiences of law students. In addition to his scholarly work, Orfield has been consistently involved in government and courts in issues related to his research. He has been a court-appointed expert in school desegregation cases in St. Louis, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Little Rock and has been called to give testimony in civil rights suits by the U.S. Department of Justice and many civil rights, legal services, and educational organizations. In 1997, Orfield was awarded the American Political Science Association's Charles Merriam Award for his "contribution to the art of government through the application of social science research." Orfield is a native Minnesotan and a connoisseur of old musicals. He would appreciate help from Spanish-speaking students in upgrading his language skills for his annual trips to Latin America.

DEGREE:
Ph.D., University of Chicago

PRINCIPAL PUBLICATIONS:

• Diversity Challenged: Evidence on the Impact of Affirmative Action (with M. Kurlaender) (2001)
• Raising Standards or Raising Barriers (with M. Kornhaber) (2001)
• Religion, Race and Justice in a Changing America (with H. Lebowitz) (1999)
• Chilling Admissions: The Affirmative Action Crisis and the Search for Alternatives (with E. Miller) (1998)
• Dismantling Desegregation: The Quiet Repeal of Brown v. Board of Education (with S. Eaton) (1996)
• Who Chooses? Who Loses? (with B. Fuller and R. Elmore) (1996)
• The Closing Door: Conservative Policies and Black Opportunity (with C. Ashkinaze) (1991)
• Must We Bus? Segregated Schools and National Policy (1978)

• Charles Merriam Award, American Political Science Association (1997)
• Brookings Institution Fellowship
• Danforth Fellowship
• Falk Fellowship
• Senior Scholar Fellowship, Spencer Foundation
• Woodrow Wilson Fellowship

• Advisory Board, Institute on Race and Poverty
• Editorial Board, Teachers College Record
• National Board, Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities