Civil Rights Educator to Receive Marie Fielder Medal

UCLA’s Dr. Gary Orfield honored for lifetime achievement

On January 13, UCLA Distinguished Research Professor Dr. Gary Orfield will receive the Marie Fielder Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Social Transformation. He is being honored by Fielding Graduate University’s Marie Fielder Center for Democracy, Leadership and Education for his decades of research on civil rights, education policy, urban policy and minority opportunity.

The event takes place at the Fess Parker DoubleTree Resort as part of Fielding‘s national session, at which worldwide students, faculty and alumni gather for workshops in leadership and education.

“Dr. Gary Orfield represents the highest ideals of the Marie Fielder Center and Fielding Graduate University in terms of his commitment to social justice and the impact of his work,” said Dr. Orlando Taylor, director of the Marie Fielder Center and Fielding’s vice president for strategic initiatives and research. “His efforts have deeply enriched our understanding of American educational opportunity.”

Dr. Gary Orfield

Dr. Orfield is Distinguished Research Professor of Education, Law, Political Science and Urban Planning at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was co-founder and director of the Harvard Civil Rights Project, and now serves as co-director of the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA. His 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.

In addition to his scholarly work, he has been involved in the development of governmental policy and has served as an expert witness in court cases related to his research. His principal publications include reports on the national progress of desegregation during the last three decades, studies of civil rights policy, housing, and access to higher education. He is currently working on studies of the impacts of the major civil rights and educational policies of the 1960s.

“I greatly appreciate this lifetime achievement award, though working for social justice is its own reward,” said Dr. Orfield. “It has been a great pleasure to participate in the struggles for racial equity in our country, which have won large victories but are far from over. After an election full of stereotypes and demagoguery, I call on my fellow academics and other concerned citizens to rededicate themselves as we face one of the most threatening reversals since the civil rights revolution.”