Dr. Frank E. Davis

Dr. Frank E. Davis was recently elected president of the nonprofit education research and development organization TERC by the group’s board of trustees. Davis, director of the Doctoral Program in Education Studies at Lesley University and longtime collaborator with the Algebra Project, began his tenure Feb. 20.

“We are very fortunate to have Frank join TERC,” said Dr. Penny Noyce, trustee and chair of the search committee. “This is a critical time in education. We wanted a leader who could broaden the organization’s impact.”

Noyce called Davis “a scholar, skilled administrator and gifted teacher” who is “well grounded in the realities of today’s classroom.”

Davis joined the faculty of Lesley University in 1985. Under his leadership, the Doctoral Program grew significantly and was a contributing factor to Lesley’s expansion and transition from a college to a university. He also has an ongoing relationship with the Algebra Project, a network of sites dedicated to improving mathematics achievement for minority students.

“It is an honor to be chosen to head what I consider a premier [research and development] education organization,” said Davis. “TERC embraces a mission that has been at the center of my professional life — providing greater access to all, regardless of race, gender, class or age, to the thrill and joy of understanding and doing mathematics and science.”

Prior to his appointment at Lesley, Davis was a professor at the University of Massachusetts, where he helped develop a mathematics program for adult learners interested in careers in public service. Before that, he served as mathematics curriculum coordinator for a Boston Model Cities project designed to ensure that post-secondary students could make a successful transition into undergraduate programs.

Davis holds a doctorate from Harvard University Graduate School of Education and a master’s degree in physics from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University, an American Educational Research Association Fellow at the National Science Foundation, and the recipient of a Danforth Graduate Fellowship while at Harvard.

Founded in 1965, TERC’s mission is to improve math, science and technology teaching and learning. In 2006, TERC had revenues of $16 million and its programs and products reached more than 3.5 million students in the United States and abroad.