Professor Emerita Anne Larkin started at Lesley University in 1967, in the Lesley College Laboratory Schools for Children. Beginning in 1973, she was a professor in the Graduate School of Education. From 1991-2008, she served as the director of the Cambridge Chapter of Say Yes To Education, Inc., a non-profit scholarship program established in collaboration with the Weiss Foundation, Lesley University, and the Cambridge Public Schools. She then served as co-leader of the Lesley/Kennedy/Longfellow Partnership: Integrating Technology into the Curriculum.
Anne has presented at local, regional, national and international conferences on education and special education issues. She has written and received many grants and has written numerous published articles focusing on autism, the role of the arts in special education, school restructuring, and early literacy.
Boards Anne has served on include the Cambridge Family and Children Services and the New England Resource Center for Higher Education. She founded and served as the first president of Personal Advocacy and Lifetime Support (PALS), Inc., an organization that helps families plan for the future of their children with disabilities. The governor of the state of Massachusetts appointed her to serve on the Massachusetts State Board of Education, and she was elected to represent Massachusetts on the National State Boards of Education, where she served on major committees responsible for publishing some of the leading studies on the current state and future of education in this country.
Anne is the recipient of several honors, including Lesley University’s Annual Impact Award, the Central Middlesex Association for Retarded Citizens’ Distinguished Service Award, the National State Boards of Education’s Distinguished Service Award, and the Ladders, Inc. of Massachusetts’ Margaret L. Bauman, M.D. Award for Excellence in Serving the Autism Community.
Education
BS, MEd, Boston State College
PhD, Boston College