Milton Chen

Milton Chen has been a leading figure in educational media for more than 20 years. He joined The George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF) as Executive Director in 1998, bringing new leadership to its mission of gathering and disseminating the most innovative models of K-12 teaching and learning in the Digital Age. A nonprofit foundation, GLEF shares new vision through its multimedia website Edutopia.org, award-winning magazine, Edutopia: The New World of Learning, and a comprehensive library of documentary films.

Prior to joining GLEF, Dr. Chen was the founding director of the KQED Center for Education & Lifelong Learning (PBS) in San Francisco, managing their web content and the delivery of educational services for teachers, parents, and community groups in support of public TV programming. He has been a director of research at the Children's Television Workshop in New York, and a director of research at Sesame Workshop where he worked on Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and 3-2-1 Contact. Dr. Chen has served as an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and as a consultant to Children Now, Educational Development Center, The Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education, and Scholastic.

An authority in several areas, Dr. Chen's interests span everything from project-based learning and social/emotional learning to global learning, technology, and research on educational innovation. He is a frequent speaker on such issues and has authored more than 30 books, chapters, and articles on educational media.

Dr. Chen currently serves as chair of the advisory council for the new Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's Media at St. Vincent College in Pennsylvania, and is a trustee of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to environmental conservation, education, and stewardship. He has chaired NHK's Japan Prize jury for educational TV and co-chaired the US Department of Education's Technology Expert Panel. In 2007, he joined a group of 35 Fulbright New Century Scholars working on innovation, access, and diversity issues in education, spending three months in the United Kingdom at University of Edinburgh. He has been honored by the Congressional Black Caucus, PBS, Sesame Workshop, Parents' Choice, and the Fred Rogers Award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Dr. Chen received an AB in social studies from Harvard College and an MA and PhD in communication research from Stanford University.