Support the Urban Education Institute
As part of the University’s fundraising effort to support the Urban Education Institute, over $63 million has been committed by foundations, corporations, and individuals to create the new knowledge needed to improve urban public education. You have the opportunity to join this group of donors to enable UEI to shape the future of schooling in Chicago and across the country.
Donors are making expendable and endowment gifts between $5,000 and $5 million to support important priorities such as our charter schools, the development of human capital, rigorous research, and the dissemination of what is learned to a national audience of policy makers, practitioners, and parents.
Leading the campaign for UEI is University Trustee Charles A. Lewis, who also serves on the University Charter School Corporation Governing Board. He is joined in his commitment to the University by his wife, Penny Bender Sebring, who is the Founding Co-Director of the Consortium on Chicago School Research. Through their family foundation they have generously provided the Institute with three endowment funds that connect research and practice in meaningful ways.
- The Lewis-Sebring Director of the Urban Education Institute. This named position is held by Timothy F. C. Knowles, a nationally known leader in education who is spearheading the Institute.
- The Lewis-Sebring Distinguished Service Professor in Sociology. The creation of this Chair assisted the University in attracting Steven Raudenbush, one of the nation’s leading scholars on advanced methodology of education research. Professor Raudenbush also serves as the Chair of the Committee on Education, which brings together distinguished faculty to collaborate on the most critical issues affecting urban schools.
- The Sebring-Lewis Consortium Archive Endowment Fund. This Fund provides critical support to build and maintain a data archive on the Chicago Public Schools at the Consortium on Chicago School Research. This data system is unparalleled in any other urban district and is invaluable in discerning trends over time and evaluating major school improvement initiatives.
The Lewis-Sebring family is just one of many donors whose gifts have strengthened the innovative programs of UEI. You have an opportunity to make a gift and join others who have supported the extended-day/week/year programs at the schools, the training of new teachers through the Urban Teacher Education Program, the professional development of current teachers, the applied research being conducted by the Consortium, and the preparation of the monograph that will present and describe the Chicago Model for Urban Schooling.
To learn more about these important giving opportunities, please contact at (773) 834-0568. Or simply click the button above to make a contribution.
