Guide to the Ronald A. Wolk Files, circa 1969-1976

John Hay Library , Special Collections
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401-863-2146
email: hay@brown.edu

Published in 2013

Collection Overview

Title:	Ronald A. Wolk files
Date range:	circa 1969-1976
Creator:	Wolk, Ronald A.
Extent:	2.0 Linear feet
Abstract:	The Ronald A. Wolk files contain administrative records, correspondence, newsletters and reports that deal with his work as Vice President for University Relations and Development at Brown University. Areas of interest include Brown's curriculum, development, and Brown Security. The material dates from 1969 through 1976.
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	John Hay Library , Special Collections
Collection number:	OF.1CA.W1.

Scope & content

The Ronald A. Wolk files are organized in two series and contain administrative material from his tenure as Brown's Vice President for University Relations and Development. The files date from 1969 to 1976.

Series I, Office files, is an alphabetically arranged collection of files dealing with a wide range of Wolk's duties. Two significant areas are Brown's curriculum (Box 1) and Brown University Security (Box 4-5). The series also contains files on development, the Pembroke merger, and labor relations on campus.

Series II, Additions, comprises two boxes (Box 7-8) of administrative material.

Access Points

Subject Organizations

• Brown University--Administration.

Subject Topics

• Universities and colleges--Administration
• Education

Document Types

• Administrative records
• Correspondence
• Newsletters
• Reports

Subject Topics

• Education

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in one series:

• I. Office Files

Biographical note

During his career, Ron Wolk has kept one foot in journalism and the other in education. He spent the first three years of his career as a newspaper reporter and magazine editor.

Beginning in 1958, Wolk served as Assistant to President Milton S. Eisenhower at Johns Hopkins University (1958-1967). During 1968, worked with Clark Kerr in Berkeley as Assistant Director of the Carnegie Commission on the Future of Higher Education. Milton Eisenhower summoned Wolk to Washington in the fall of 1968 to serve as his assistant on the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence established after the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King. In 1969, Wolk went to Brown University as Vice President of University Relations, where he was responsible for publications, alumni affairs, fundraising, public information, special events, and campus security.

Wolk left Brown in the fall of 1978 and moved to Washington, DC to become President of Editorial Projects in Education. In 1981, he launched Education Week, American education's newspaper of record. (In 1966, he had been instrumental in launching The Chronicle of Higher Education.) In 1988, Wolk started Teacher Magazine and served as its editor. In 1996, he established Quality Counts, a special annual report on the condition of standards-based reform in the 50 states.

In 1997, Wolk retired to Rhode Island. Wolk received his bachelors degree from Westminster College in Pennsylvania, and honorary degrees from Brown, Lebanon Valley College, and Westminster College. He remains active in school reform efforts, serving on the Board of Editorial Projects in Education, and Chairman of the Board of the Big Picture Company. Chairman of the Board of What Kids Can Do, a national education organization located in Barrington that promotes and publicizes the accomplishments of young people across the nation. He helped establish the Rhode Island Business Roundtable and served on its executive committee until 2004. Wolk is also an adjunct member of the faculty of the department of education at Brown, and a member of the advisory committee of The Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown.

The above description is drawn from http://www.bigpicture.org/board-of-directors/ron-wolk/.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Use of the materials:	Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Preferred citation:	Ronald A. Wolk Files, OF-1CA-W1, Brown University Archives.
Contact information:	John Hay Library , Special Collections Box A Brown University Providence, RI 02912 Tel: 401-863-2146 email: hay@brown.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Finding aid prepared by Brown University Library staff
Encoding:	This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2013 January 28
Descriptive rules:	Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)
Sponsor:	Processing funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Additional Information

Inventory

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