Jan Davidson
From IAE-Pedia
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This is a work in progress.
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About Jan Davidson
This is the beginning of a document about the Pioneer. In general, we are interested in two types of information:
- General information about the pioneer.
- Specific, personal stories drawn from your experiences in interacting with the pioneer or in interacting with others who have personal knowledge about the pioneer. Help the reader gain insight into the pioneer as a human being, a pioneer, and a leader dedicated to improving informal and formal education.
The following is quoted from the Davidson institute Press Kit:
- In 1999, philanthropists Bob and Jan Davidson founded the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, a nonprofit operating foundation whose mission is to recognize, nurture and support profoundly intelligent young people and to provide opportunities for them to develop their talents to make a positive difference.
- Jan Davidson’s career in education began at 13 years old when she started a tutoring service for her fellow students. In the late 1970s, Jan asked herself why computers were not being used to teach students at an individualized pace and she realized the potential of using computers as learning tools. In 1982, she founded Davidson & Associates, the educational software company that published award-winning products such as Math Blaster™ and Reading Blaster™.
- In 1989, Jan persuaded her husband, Bob, to leave his job as executive vice president of engineering and construction at Parsons Corporation, and become chairman and CEO of Davidson & Associates. During the next few years, Davidson & Associates formed partnerships with Fisher-Price and Simon & Schuster, and made several strategic acquisitions including Blizzard Entertainment, a small entertainment software developer, whose products Warcraft™, Starcraft™ and Diablo™ became runaway best sellers. Under Bob’s leadership, Davidson & Associates became a publicly-traded, multi-million dollar company.
- After selling Davidson & Associates in 1997, Bob and Jan decided to focus on philanthropic endeavors to help young people become successful learners. While researching ways to make a positive impact, they realized that our nation’s brightest students are arguably the most underserved and neglected in America’s educational system. In 1999, the Davidson Institute for Talent Development (www.DavidsonInstitute.org) was established.
Questions and Answers
This is an "Up close and personal" section. It includes both questions directed to the Pioneer if he or she is still available to answer questions, and personal stories contributes by friends and acquaintances. If it is appropriate, please include the following question submitted by Dave Moursund. Remember, this is a question to the Pioneer, not to the person writing about the Pioneer.
Q. Drawing upon your years of experience in the field of education, what do you think are some of the very best ways to improve our current informal and formal educational systems?
A. (Response not yet provided.)
Jan Davidson's Past & Current Insights
Here, we want to capture one or both of the following:
- A section written by the pioneer if he/she is still with us and is able and willing to write. We are interested in personal insights, retrospective analysis and comments, suggestions to the world of education, and so on.
- Material similar to (1) above, but written by the pioneer in the past.
References
This includes references to courses of information about the person as well as references to some of the published works of the person.
