Walter R. Allen, Ph.D.

Professor
Department of Sociology
Director
CHOICES: Access, Diversity
and Achievement in Higher Education
Institute for Social Science Research
University of California, Los Angeles

Walter Allen is currently Professor of Sociology and Allan Murray Cartter Professor in Higher Education, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (eff. 7/1/04) at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is also co-director of CHOICES, a longitudinal study of college attendance among African Americans and Latinos in California. Dr. Allen was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri where he graduated from Manual High and Vocational School (1967). His degrees in the field of Sociology are from Beloit College (B.A., 1971) and the University of Chicago (M.A., 1973; Ph.D., 1975). He is married to Wilma J. Sharber and has three children, Rena, Binti, and Bryan; a son-in-law, Stephan; four grandsons James, Zachary, Elijah and Bryce; and one granddaughter, Zoe. In 1978-79 he completed postdoctoral study in Epidemiology at the School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His honors include the Rockefeller Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (1982); Senior Fulbright Lecturer, University of Zimbabwe (1984-86); Distinguished Scholar Award, American Educational Research Association (1987, 1993); United Negro College Fund Distinguished Leadership Award (1988); Allerton Lecturer, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana (1988); Faculty Recognition Award, University of Michigan (1988); Distinguished Career Award, Association of Black Sociologists (1995); Distinguished Teaching Award, UCLA (1996); and President Nominee, American Sociological Association (1997). Dr. Allen is cited for distinguished achievement in “100 Years of Change,” Special Issue of Black Issues in Higher Education (1999); Who’s Who in the World (1996); Who’s Who in American Education (1995); Who’s Who in the Midwest (1988); Who’s Who in America (1988-89); Men of Achievement (1987); Outstanding Young Men of America (1982); Who’s Who Among Young Americans (1976); and Who’s Who Among High School Students (1967).

Diana Coulton Beebe, M.A.

Head of School
The Holton-Arms School
Bethesda , Maryland

Diana Coulton Beebe has been a teacher and educator since she began teaching high school English at Shaker Heights High School in 1964. She has taught at both public and independent schools. Prior to coming to Holton-Arms as Head of School in 1992, she was the Director of the Middle School at Holland Hall School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she taught and worked in administration for 16 years. She has been active in the girls’ movement and served as the president of the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools (NCGS) and president of the National Association of Principals of Schools for Girls (NAPSG). In 1999, she represented NAPSG at the Girls’ School Association in London, England, and in 2003 she represented NCGS at the Girls’ School Conference in Sydney, Australia. She is also a member of the Head Mistresses of the East and Headmasters’ Association and serves on a number of other educational association boards.

Mrs. Beebe received her M.A. in Educational Leadership from The University of Tulsa and her B.A. in English from The College of Wooster. She grew up in Hudson, Ohio and attended Hathaway Brown School in Cleveland.

Mrs. Beebe and her husband, John, have two grown children and two grandchildren.