Roberta Kurlantzick was raised in New Jersey by a traditional mother and a feminist father who set high expectations for her and offered boundless support. Educated at Smith, Columbia, and the University of Connecticut, she pursued a forty-year career in public education--a career driven by passion for excellence and equity and shaped by powerful mentors, strong colleagues, and a supportive spouse.

An educator in every sense of the word , Roberta has had an enormous impact on elementary school education and its stakeholders. For twenty-seven years, she led two schools characterized by shared vision and well-articulated mission, high standards for teaching and learning, continual press for high achievement, deep connections to students, and strong collaborative cultures for adults and children. Her influence was felt not only in the Connecticut communities where she was both teacher and administrator, but in the broader national community where her innovative ideas were recognized as among the very best practices in the public education of children.

After teaching in both elementary and secondary schools and chairing the English Department at Farmington High School, Roberta turned her attention to school administration and to elementary schools. From 1979 to 2002, she was principal of the Union School (kindergarten–grade 5) in Unionville, CT, and from 2002-2006 she opened and was principal of the West Woods Upper Elementary School (grades 5–6) in Farmington, CT. .

Through her demonstrated commitment to children and community and her high expectations for faculty, staff and parents as well as students, Roberta led the Union School, located in an economically diverse and multicultural community, to a record of achievement described as “nothing short of remarkable.” The Union School was recognized as “a truly exceptional learning community” and Roberta as a National Distinguished Principal by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Association of Elementary School Principals. The West Woods Upper Elementary School was Roberta’s creation––an innovative grade configuration that reflected both her compelling vision and the confidence of a community willing to devote the necessary resources to the project because of her inspiring leadership.

Her dedication, intelligence, vision, energy and humor are only a few of the qualities cited in her many letters of support. As one former teacher put it, Roberta “recognizes potential, she inspires greatness, and she empowers people.” As an exceptional educator, lifelong learner and powerful mentor who brings intellectual discipline as well as humanistic and egalitarian values to her work, Roberta is a role model for today’s Smith students.

In 2006, Roberta retired from her career as a public school educator. She now works at the CT Center for School Change, a not–for–profit in Hartford whose mission is to improve teaching and learning for all children in CT schools. The Center facilitates efforts at comprehensive reform through grants, technical assistance, workshops, statewide conferences and seminars, research on public policy issues, and partnerships with other agencies and institutions committed to systemic improvement. She is part of the Center team that provides technical assistance and support to school districts across the state. This role enables her to apply what she knows about schools and school systems in new and challenging ways, and she is grateful, as Marge Piercy says “To be of use.”

Roberta and her husband, Lewis, a Law Professor at the University of Connecticut, have two children: Josh, a specialist in Southeast Asia, who works at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Rachel, a geriatric social worker, who is returning to CT next fall to attend UConn Law School.

Now in her seventh decade, Roberta finally has some time for herself – to cherish her first grandchild, to enjoy her friends and family, to play the piano again after almost forty years, to walk every day, to see plays in New York, to read widely, and even, once in a while, to knit!