Brad Olsen is a senior fellow with the Center for Universal Education in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution. Prior to this, Olsen was a professor of education at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His research focuses on teachers, teaching, and teacher development; school reform; global comparative education; and qualitative research methods. Olsen’s most recent book is “Teaching for success: Developing your teacher identity in today’s classroom” (2016, Routledge). Olsen was series editor for “The Teacher’s Toolkit” (2010, Paradigm Publishers). He is a recipient of the 2007 Excellence in Teaching award from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
At Brookings, Olsen’s work centers on research and policy around the scaling of educational innovations for systemic improvement in low- and middle-income countries around the world.
Olsen received his doctorate in education from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2002. He earned his bachelor’s in philosophy and English from Bowdoin College in 1989, and his master’s in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1993.
For more, visit Brad Olsen’s website, BradOlsen.net.
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Current Positions
- Professor Emeritus, University of California, Santa Cruz
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Past Positions
- Professor of Education, University of California, Santa Cruz (2014-2021)
- Visiting Professor of Education, Universidad de Los Andes and Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Bogotá, Colombia (2017-2019)
- Visiting Professor of Educational Studies, Eindhoven School of Education, Technische Universiteit, Eindhoven, The Netherlands (2011)
- Associate Professor of Education. University of California, Santa Cruz (2008-2014)
- Assistant Professor of Education. University of California, Santa Cruz (2004-2008)
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Education
- Ph.D. in both Policy, Organization, Measurement, & Evaluation; and Language, Literacy, & Culture. Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley (2002)
- M.Ed., Teaching and Curriculum, Harvard Graduate School of Education (1993)
- A.B., Philosophy, Bowdoin College (1989)