Anne Douglass
About Anne Douglass
Anne Douglass serves as the Executive Director and Professor at the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She has a strong academic background, with degrees from Harvard, Wellesley, and Brandeis, and has published extensively on leadership and resilience in early childhood education.
Work at UMass Boston
Anne Douglass has served as the Executive Director and Professor at the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation at the University of Massachusetts Boston since 2009. In this role, she has been instrumental in founding the Institute, which focuses on enhancing leadership in early education. Her work includes developing a training program in entrepreneurial leadership aimed at educators and business owners who serve children from birth to five years. Douglass has also published several research briefs and articles related to leadership development in early care and education, contributing to the academic and practical understanding of the field.
Education and Expertise
Anne Douglass holds multiple degrees in education and social policy. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Wellesley College from 1985 to 1989. She then pursued a Master of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education from 1990 to 1992. Douglass further advanced her studies by obtaining a PhD in Social Policy focusing on Children, Youth, and Families from The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University from 2005 to 2009. Her educational background underpins her expertise in early childhood education and leadership.
Background
Before her current role at UMass Boston, Anne Douglass held various positions that contributed to her expertise in early childhood education. She worked as an Instructor in Early Childhood Education at Wheelock College from 2006 to 2009. Additionally, she served as a Program Evaluation Consultant at the Boston Public Health Commission from 2013 to 2015 and as a Research and Evaluation Consultant at Strengthening Families Illinois from 2007 to 2012. These roles provided her with practical experience in program evaluation and early education.
Publications and Research
Anne Douglass has contributed significantly to the field of early childhood education through her publications. In 2016, she published a study on resilience in early childhood systems in the Journal of Early Childhood Research. She also authored a research brief on co-creating a leadership development ecosystem in early care and education at UMass Boston. In 2017, she published the book 'Leading for Change in Early Care and Education: Cultivating Leadership from Within' through Teachers College Press. Additionally, her commentary titled 'Equal Pay For Early Educators Will Take More Than Legislation' appeared on WBUR in July 2018.
Board Memberships and Initiatives
Since 2017, Anne Douglass has been a member of the Board of Directors at Be Strong Families, where she contributes to initiatives aimed at strengthening family support systems. She has also established an alumnae innovation network designed to support early educators in implementing changes at local and systems levels in early care and education. These initiatives reflect her commitment to improving early education and supporting educators in their professional development.