A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Linda Roberts Director, Office of Educational Technology Special Adviser to the Secretary of Education

Dr. Roberts coordinates the Department's technology programs and plays a key role in developing the Clinton Administration's Educational Technology Initiative. Roberts steered the development of the Technology Innovation Challenge Grants, the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund, the Regional Technology in Education Consortia, Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology Program, the Community Technology Centers Program and the Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships Program; a total of more than $789 million in FY00 budget.

As Senior Adviser on Technology, Dr. Roberts represents the Secretary on interagency committees and is also a member of the White House educational technology working group.

Roberts travels extensively, speaking at conferences, conducting teacher and student forums while visiting schools and state agencies and meeting with developers in high tech companies to stay in touch with advances in technology. Department of Education on-line discussions, national conferences and working seminars are also critical components of these outreach efforts.

In June, the National Educational Computing Association presented the Pioneer in Educational Computing Award 2000 to Roberts "in recognition of the major role she has played during the past decade in the significant increase of Federal support for educational technology." She was Electronic Learning Magazine's, Technology Educator of the Decade, the recipient of the U.S. Distance Learning Association's Eagle Award for outstanding contributions to public policy, the Federal 100 Award in Information Technology, and the Computerworld/ Smithsonian Award for Leadership and Excellence in Educational Technology. Roberts also serves as a member of the George Lucas Education Foundation Board and served on the Advisory Board of the Children's Television Workshop for many years.

Roberts' career started in 1962 when she was an elementary classroom teacher and reading specialist in Ithaca, NY and Brookline, MA. She later taught elementary, secondary and adult reading programs in Oak Ridge, TN and then joined the faculties of the University of Tennessee and Lincoln Memorial University. Prior to joining the Department, Roberts was a Project Director and Senior Associate with the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), where she headed up three major assessments on educational technology: Power on! New Tools for Teaching and Learning, Linking for Learning: A New Course for Education, and Adult Literacy and New Technologies: Learning for a Lifetime.

Roberts holds a B.S. from Cornell University (1962), an Ed.M. from Harvard University (1963), and an Ed.D. from the University of Tennessee (1973).

She is married to Michael Roberts and they have a daughter Rachel, and a son David.

This page last modified August 11, 2000 (bay).