Biography:
   Dr. Rankin received his doctorate in Urban Education from Kansas State University in May 1973, and    formerly served as the Director of the Midwest Equity Assistance Center from 7/1978 to 6/1987 and from    7/1990 to present with the rank of professor of Foundations and Adult Education. Prior to accepting this    position he directed the Midwest Center for Equal Educational Opportunity at the University of Missouri-   Columbia, for five years, 1973-1978. Dr. Rankin previously has directed the Cooperative Urban Teacher    Education Program and the Preparation Retraining Institute for Developing Educators in Kansas. He has    been an elementary school teacher and principal. He also has taught courses at Kansas State University and    University of Missouri, including Black Family, Educational Sociology, Teaching Disadvantaged Students,    Multicultural Education, and Education of the Exceptional Child. Dr. Rankin has extensive national and    international experience in the area of school desegregation. His experience has included conducting    desegregation studies and surveys, providing expert witness testimony in several Federal desegregation    court decisions, and serving as a member of several regional and national school desegregation and sex    equity committees. He was one of the founding members of the National Committee on School    Desegregation. This organization lobbied congress to resurrect the legislation that reestablished the Magnet    School Assistance Program. He has also served as a consultant to numerous public schools and universities,    race relation programs, state departments of education, and has written funded grants in excess of 16    million dollars.