Roosevelt to Address Heinz School Graduates

Mark Roosevelt, Superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools, will address the 2006 Heinz School graduates at the diploma and award ceremony on Sunday afternoon, May 21. That ceremony will celebrate the achievements of the graduates of the PhD, MSPPM, MAM, HCPM, MSISPM, MPM, MSETM and MMM programs.

Mark Roosevelt was appointed the Superintendent of the Pittsburgh Schools in August of 2005. He is a public-sector change agent with a proven track record. A champion of public education, he has been successful in attaining the support necessary for the equitable funding and accountability measures necessary to drive school improvement.

As Chair of the Massachusetts State Legislature's Education Committee, Roosevelt worked for three years to craft and steer to passage the Education Reform Act of 1993, landmark legislation fundamentally restructuring the way that state funds and manages its public schools. As a result of the Act, well-to-do and poor districts now have roughly the same resources and the state has a highly regarded academic standards and assessment program. Massachusetts now leads the nation in educational performance at almost all grade levels and subject matters.

In 1994, Roosevelt was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Massachusetts. Since that time Roosevelt has taught Political Science at Brandeis University, where he was also the Director of the Gordon Public Policy Center; been the CEO of Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives, a nonprofit economic development corporation; and the Managing Director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education.

Mark Roosevelt holds a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College. He is also a graduate of the Broad Urban Superintendent's Academy, an intensive executive management program designed to prepare educators and professionals from other fields to lead large city school systems.