International early childhood education leader visits Center

The Center welcomed Dr. Lilian G. Katz, international early childhood education leader, author, consultant and lecturer as she joined key members of Miami-Dade’s early childhood education community to discuss the successes and challenges faced by today’s early childhood educators.

Following the meeting in early April, Dr. Katz toured the Center and praised the initiative’s positive impact.  “All children should have the experience of being intellectually engaged and challenged,” Katz said. 

Dr. Katz, who received her Ph.D. at Stanford University in 1968, taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for more than three decades. In addition to directing the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education for more than 30 years, Dr. Katz was one of the founders of the Illinois Association for the Education of Young Children and served as its first president.

She has also served as vice president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) from 1986 to 1990 and was later elected president, serving from 1992-1994.

Dr. Katz has lectured in 43 countries and in all 50 U.S. states. She has held visiting posts at universities in Australia, Canada, England, Germany, India, Israel, the West Indies (Barbados campus) and many parts of the United States. In 1997, she served as Nehru Professor at the University of Baroda in India.

As the author of more than 150 publications, Dr. Katz has published articles, columns, and books on a vast array of early education-related topics ranging from developing investigative projects with young children and teacher education to child development and parenting. Dr. Katz is the founder of two journals: Early Childhood Research Quarterly and Early Childhood Research & Practice which began publication in early 1999 as the first peer-reviewed, Internet-only, bilingual journal on early education.