Today, David Menefee-Libey joins ‘On California’ as a named co-author and conductor of the site.
Readers will recognize David’s name from his frequent contributions to the blog, and those familiar with my past work will recognize him as my longstanding collaborator.
Menefee-Libey and I have worked together on education policy issues for the last two decades. He is my down-the-street neighbor, teaching politics at Pomona College while I taught in the ed school at Claremont Graduate University. We collaborated on research into Los Angeles school reforms, and he co-authored Learning from L.A.: Institutional Change in American Public Education (Harvard Education Press, 2008) and contributed to The Transformation of Great American School Districts (Harvard Education Press, 2008).
Recently he has been writing about the interdependence of government and corporation, a topic that will rise in importance at ‘On California.’
He brings a scholar’s grounding in political thought and theory and an activist’s zeal. On the eve of the last presidential election, he flew to Wisconsin to join one of his former students as one of the ground troops for the Democratic campaign.
He’s a brilliant teacher; a generation Pomona College students have benefited from his incisive classes, and he now teaches at the CGU as well.
David’s also a colleague, friend, and fellow congregant. Think of him as a somewhat angry Mr. Chips in running shoes.
Welcome!