Nolan Malone named director of The McREL Pacific Center for Changing the Odds

Denver—Dr. Nolan Malone, current director of research and evaluation for Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu, Hawaii, will join Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) on April 20 as vice president for Pacific operations and director of The McREL Pacific Center for Changing the Odds.

Malone will oversee the Center’s efforts to build upon and create collaborative relationships with education agencies and leaders. The McREL Pacific Center, which opened in July 2010, provides staff development and school improvement services to schools across the region. He will also supervise McREL’s Honolulu-based staff.

Malone’s vision for The McREL Pacific Center is that it serves not only as a resource for quality research, evaluation, and services in the region but also as a “gateway for data, information, and tools between the continental U.S. and Pacific stakeholders who seek to change the odds for learners.”

The opportunity for meaningful collaborations among educators, researchers, and policymakers is “tremendous” in today’s economic climate, Malone said, and “McREL is uniquely situated to play an important role in helping to bring about positive, inclusive, and sustainable change.”

“We are thrilled that Dr. Malone accepted our invitation to develop our Pacific Center and lead implementation of Pacific Region initiatives,” said McREL President and CEO Tim Waters.

Along with a solid research background in education, migration, and demographic issues, Malone brings “a thorough understanding of native history and culture in the Pacific and a fervent interest in changing the odds for success for all children in the region,” said Waters.

Malone served as a senior research analyst at Kamehameha Schools prior to becoming director of the Research & Evaluation Division in 2008. In addition, he has worked as a demographic analyst for the U.S. Census Bureau, a project manager for the Mexican Migration Project at the University of Pennsylvania’s Population Studies Center, and as a research associate at the Urban Institute.

Malone holds a Ph.D. and master’s degree in demography, both from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Va.