
Sharon Lynn Kagan, EdD
Virginia and Leonard Marx Professor of Early Childhood Education and Family Policy; Co-Director, National Center for Children & Families, Teachers College, Columbia University
Sharon Lynn Kagan is the Virginia and Leonard Marx Professor of Early Childhood and Family Policy and Co-Director of the National Center for Children and Families at Teachers College, Columbia University and Professor Adjunct at Yale University's Child Study Center. Author of 250 articles and 14 books, Professor Kagan is noted for her seminal research on the institutions that impact the quality, equity, and sustainability of services impacting young children and their families. Using research and working in conjunction with UNICEF, the World Bank, UNESCO, and the IADB, Kagan has helped shape early childhood policies in over 70 countries globally.
Acknowledged for these research and policy contributions, Kagan is a Fulbright Scholar and an elected Fellow of both the National Academy of Education and the American Educational Research Association (AERA). She is the only woman in the history of American education to receive its three most prestigious awards: the 2004 Distinguished Service Award from the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), the 2005 James Bryant Conant Award for Lifetime Service to Education from the Education Commission of the States (ECS), and the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education.