Board of Directors

Ceasar L. MacDowell

Ceasar L. McDowell (Ceasar@mit.edu) is an Associate Professor of the Practice of Community Development at MIT and Director of MIT's Center for Reflective Community Practice. He holds an Ed.D. from Harvard University. His research and teaching interests include the use of mass media in promoting democracy, the education of urban students, the organizing of urban communities, civil rights history, peacemaking and conflict resolution, as well as testing and test policy. He also serves as chairperson of The Algebra Project, was co-founder of The Civil Rights Forum, and served as Senior Researcher for the National Commission on Testing and Public Policy. In addition, Dr. McDowell has extensive experience in the area of public engagement, and the design and conduct of civic conversations that create opportunities for individuals from minority and poor communities to be included in a cross-generational and cross-racial public discourse. Click here for an interview with Dr. McDowell that appeared when he first came to MIT in PLAN, the Newsletter of the School of Architecture and planning at MIT.

Dr. McDowell has served as an advisor to several national foundations, developed programs for public discourse and conflict resolution among educators from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. (Click here for an article about his work with the peace process in Ireland). Dr. McDowell was also a 1991 W. K. Kellogg National Leadership Fellow.