Deborah L. Ball
Biography
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Mathematics Education B.A., Michigan State University, 1976 M.A., Michigan State University, 1982 Ph.D., Michigan State University, 1988 |
Deborah Loewenberg Ball is the William H. Payne Collegiate Professor of education at the University of Michigan, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, and the director of TeachingWorks. Ball taught elementary school for more than 15 years, and continues to teach mathematics to elementary students every summer. Her research focuses on the work of teaching mathematics in ways that disrupt the reproduction of inequity and that make it possible for young people to enjoy and engage in mathematics in and out of school. She is an expert on teacher education, and her current work centers on how to improve the quality of beginning teaching.
Ball has authored or co-authored more than 150 publications and has lectured and made numerous major presentations around the world. Her research has been recognized with several awards and honors, and she has served on several national and international commissions and panels focused on policy initiatives and the improvement of education, including the National Mathematics Advisory Panel and the Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education. She serves on the National Science Board and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Board of Trustees, chairs the Spencer Foundation Board of Directors, and is the president-elect of the American Educational Research Association. Ball has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Education, and is a fellow of the American Mathematical Society and the American Educational Research Association. She completed eleven years as dean of the U-M School of Education in June 2016.
Ball was appointed to the Board in 2013.