President, Best Teachers Institute, Ken Bain spent much of his academic career at Vanderbilt, Northwestern, and NYU, before becoming Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Professor of History and Urban Education (National Center for Urban Education), University of the District of Columbia, a post he left in July 2013. He was the founding director of four major teaching and learning centers: the Center for Teaching Excellence at New York University, the Searle Center for Teaching Excellence at Northwestern University, the Center for Teaching at Vanderbilt University, and the Research Academy for University Learning at Montclair University.
In the 1970’s and early 80’s he was Professor of History at the University of Texas–Pan American, where he also served as director of that school’s University Honors Program and as founding director of the History Teaching Center, a pioneering program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities to promote greater collaboration between history teachers on the secondary level and university and college research historians. From 1984 to 1986, he served as director of the National History Teaching Center, which had a similar mission on the national level.
His historical scholarship centers on the history of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East (principal works include The March to Zion: United States Policy and the Founding of Israel, 1980, 2000), but he has long taken an interest in teaching and learning issues and in recent years has contributed to the scholarship in that area. Internationally recognized for his insights into teaching and learning and for a fifteen-year study of what the best educators do, he has been invited in recent years to present workshops or lectures at over three hundred and fifty universities and events–in the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. His learning research has concentrated on a wide range of issues, including deep and sustained learning and the creation of natural critical learning environments.
Bain
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About the Author: Patrick Blessinger
Dr. Patrick Blessinger is an adjunct associate professor of education at St. John's University, a math and science teacher with the New York State Education Department, and chief research scientist of the International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association (in consultative status with the United Nations). Dr. Blessinger is the editor and author of many books and articles and he is an educational policy analyst and contributing writer with UNESCO's Inclusive Policy Lab, University World News, The Hechinger Report, and Higher Education Tomorrow, among others. Dr. Blessinger teaches courses in education, leadership, and research methods and he serves on doctoral dissertation committees. Dr. Blessinger has been involved with accreditation certification for universities and colleges and he has been involved in various educational consulting projects. Dr. Blessinger provides professional development workshops and classes to teachers and educational leaders and regularly gives presentations at academic conferences around the world. Dr. Blessinger has received several educational awards, including: Fulbright Senior Scholar to Denmark (Department of State, USA), Governor’s Teaching Fellow (Institute of Higher Education, University of Georgia, USA), and Certified Educator (National Geographic Society, USA).