Died 2005 | Books France Since 1789 | |
Paul A. Gagnon (1925–2005) was a historian and educator. He taught European History at the University of Massachusetts Amherst during the 1950s, helped establish the University of Massachusetts Boston in 1964, and then worked in the 1980s and 1990s with national efforts at social studies and secondary education reforms.
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Early life and rducation
Born in Springfield, Mass., Gagnon attended the High School of Commerce and then enrolled in the U.S. Navy, where he served during WWII. After the war ended, he earned his B.A. from the University of Mass. at Amherst in 1950 and soon after began teaching European history there as he continued with his graduate studies. He married in 1960, which was also the year he earned his doctorate in modern European history from Harvard University.
Career
Gagnon served as the founding Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Massachusetts at Boston from the years 1965 to 1970.
After retiring from the University of Massachusetts, Gagnon began a second phase of his career focused on education and curriculum reform. He worked closely with the American Federation of Teachers, with whom he published Education for Democracy: A Statement for Principles, which was signed by over 100 other educators and historians. He was the principal investigator with the Bradley Commission on History in Schools, which was formed by a group of prominent historians, including Diane Ravitch. Funded by the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Bradley Commission released a pamphlet in 1988 ("Building a History Curriculum") with a series of resolutions and a program for the study of history in K-12 American schools, which was followed by a book (Historical Literacy) published in 1989 and edited by Gagnon.
Gagnon was the first Executive Director of the National Council for History Education. He served in the U.S. Department of Education from 1991-1994 as Director of the Fund for the Improvement and Reform of Schools and Teaching (FIRST).