January 2014

AERA Past President Elliot W. Eisner died on January 10 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. Eisner, professor emeritus of education and art at Stanford University, served as AERA President in 1992-93. A memorial symposium will be held at the 2014 AERA Annual Meeting.

Eisner, whose scholarship spanned arts education, curriculum reform, and qualitative research, was a champion of the role of arts in improving student learning and educational practice. He wrote and edited 17 books, authored dozens of research papers, and lectured countless times in the United States and throughout the world.

The theme of the 1993 AERA Annual Meeting, held during Eisner’s presidency, was “The Art and Science of Educational Research and Practice.” The title of his Presidential Address was “Forms of Understanding and the Future of Educational Research.”  

Over his career, Eisner’s scholarly and professional contributions were honored by numerous national and international organizations. In 1967, he received AERA’s inaugural Palmer O. Johnson Memorial Award, given annually for an outstanding article appearing in an AERA-sponsored publication.

Eisner, who was born March 10, 1933, in Chicago, received a BA in art and education from Roosevelt University, an MS in art education from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and an MA and PhD in education from the University of Chicago. Prior to attending the University of Chicago, he worked two years as a high school art teacher. He served as an assistant professor at the University of Chicago before being appointed an associate professor of education and art at Stanford University in 1965.