Biographical Information:

Dr. Milton Chen has been a leading figure in educational media for over 20 years. He joined GLEF in 1998, bringing new leadership to its mission of using the media, especially the Internet, to tell the most inspiring stories of how interactive technologies are transforming teaching and learning in America’s public schools.

Prior to joining GLEF, Dr. Chen was the founding director of the KQED Center for Education & Lifelong Learning (PBS) in San Francisco. For 10 years, he directed KQED’s educational programming and outreach services, including workshops, publications, and Web sites for schools, families, and the community.

Dr. Chen is the author of The Smart Parent’s Guide to Kids’ TV (KQED, 1994) and is a frequent speaker and media commentator on issues of education and the media. He has been the national spokesman for the Smart Parents campaign on media literacy for families, conducted by PBS and the American Academy of Pediatrics.  In 1996, he served as executive editor and co-host of the one-hour public TV special, "The Smart Parent’s Guide to TV Violence," with guest experts including First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

His career in public television spans program development, audience research, and community outreach for PBS’s most prominent children’s series, including Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and 3-2-1 Contact, productions of the Children's Television Workshop in New York, where he served as director of research from 1977 to 1980. From 1985 to 1987, he was an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, teaching and conducting research on educational technology. He is the author of more than 30 books, chapters, and articles on educational media. 

Dr. Chen is a member of the Professional Development Task Force for California Superintendent Delaine Eastin and currently serves on advisory groups to Scholastic, bigchalk.com, and Child Research Net in Japan. He has co-chaired the U. S. Department of Education Technology Expert Panel and has served as an advisor to the Global Information Infrastructure (GII) Awards, Home Box Office, The Exploratorium, and educational agencies in South Africa, Australia, Taiwan, Hungary, and Germany. His work has been honored by The Congressional Black Caucus, NHK in Japan, PBS, the Children’s Television Workshop, American Psychological Association, Parents’ Choice, and others.

Dr. Chen received an A.B. in social studies from Harvard College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in communication research from Stanford University. He lives with his wife and teenage daughter in San Francisco.

The George Lucas Educational Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by the filmmaker in 1991. It recently launched a new Web-based project, Teaching in the Digital Age, with film clips, articles, resources, and links on its Web site (glef.org) and related videocassettes, newsletters, and books.