Arlene Gardner

Arlene Gardner is a graduate of Rutgers University and Georgetown University Law Center.  She is the founder and executive director of the New Jersey Center for Civic and Law-Related Education at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The Center provides institutes, workshops and conferences for teachers about the Bill of Rights, civics, government, history, humanities, interdisciplinary teaching, global education, controversial issues, conflict resolution and prejudice reduction, as well as statewide civic education competitions for middle and high school students.  Ms. Gardner has practiced law in California and New Jersey; has worked as Assistant Counsel to the Governor of New Jersey; has led a Rutgers University-sponsored project on school partnerships; and has authored School Partnerships: A Handbook for School and Community Leaders (1990). More recently, she co-authored Conflict Resolution and United States History: The Colonial period through Reconstruction and Conflict Resolution and United States History: The Gilded Age through the 20th Century (2007). This two-volume teacher resource guide provides an engaging methodology and rich historical background for middle and high school students to learn American history. Ms. Gardner has conducted workshops

Ms. Gardner lives in Westfield, New Jersey, with her husband, Ed Israelow, their two children and their cat. She served on the Westfield Board of Education 1996-2004 and was board president 2001-2004.  Ms. Gardner is a director and president-elect of the New Jersey Council for the Social Studies; Policy Committee Chairperson of the New Jersey Social Studies Supervisors Association; director of the New Jersey Coalition to Support the Civic Mission of Schools; and has served on the Governor’s Juvenile Justice Task Force and on the State Department of Education’s 2004 Social Studies Standards Review Committee.