Lilian Katz

Who is Lilian Katz?

Lilian Katz is a Professor Emerita of early childhood education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she is also principal investigator for the Illinois Early Learning Project, a contributor to the Early Childhood and Parenting Collaborative, and editor of the first on-line peer-reviewed early-childhood journal, Early Childhood Research & Practice. She was born and raised in England and received her Ph.D. in Child Development from Stanford University in 1968.

Katz is a past president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children and former Director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary & Early Childhood Education. She has published Talks with Teachers of Young Children, a collection of her essays. In 2001 the second edition of her Engaging Children's Minds: The Project Approach was published. For thirteen years, she wrote a monthly column for Parents Magazine. Katz was founding editor of the Early Childhood Research Quarterly, and served as editor-in-chief during its first six years. She is currently chair of the editorial board of the International Journal of the Early Years published in the United Kingdom. The Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting organized a symposium in her honor in 2000.