Deborah Loewenberg Ball Addresses ACE Teachers and Leaders at 2016 Commencement

Deborah Loewenberg Ball, one of the nation’s leading teachers, scholars and visionaries in the field of education from elementary school to graduate school levels, served as the keynote speaker at the 2016 Commencement Ceremony of the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) on Saturday, July 9.

“We are delighted that Dean Ball has accepted our invitation to celebrate our graduates’ gift to the children we serve across the country and their commitment to the future of Catholic education,” said Rev. Timothy R. Scully, C.S.C., co-founder of ACE and the Hackett Family Director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives.

“Deborah Ball is a one of those transformative educational leaders that comes along only once in a generation. Throughout her prodigious career, she has formed and inspired countless teachers, school leaders and research scholars dedicated to improving educational quality at every level. Her life’s vocation serves as a powerful witness for the ACE community.”

Ball is the William H. Payne Collegiate Professor in Education at the University of Michigan and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, but her career began with 15 years as an elementary school teacher. She still returns to the classroom every summer to teach mathematics to fifth-graders. Ball recently concluded 11 years as dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan, is the president-elect of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education.

She addressed the annual ACE Commencement exercises at 3:30 p.m. in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. Notre Dame bestowed 120 graduate degrees upon a next generation of Catholic school teachers and leaders who completed periods of formation and service with two nationally recognized programs.

A total of ninety-one ACE Teaching Fellows graduates received the Master of Education (M. Ed.) degree as the culmination of two years of academic study combined with teaching in Catholic K-12 schools in underserved areas around the country. Twenty-nine graduates from ACE’s Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program received the M.A. degree in educational leadership, concluding twenty-six months of formation that prepared them to be principals and other leaders in Catholic education.