Marilyn Lichtman in front of destroyer in St. Petersburg, Russia (2009)

Marilyn Lichtman is a retired professor of educational research and evaluation. After receiving her doctorate in educational research and statistics from The George Washington University, she taught at The Catholic University of America. She then relocated to Virginia Tech (Northern Virginia and Blacksburg) where she taught quantitative and qualitative research courses and directed many students as they completed their dissertations. Lichtman was an early user of the Internet for teaching, having put many of her qualitative courses and syllabi online. She has conducted numerous research studies for school systems and the Department of Defense Schools worldwide; she has served on review panels for the Department of Education; and she has consulted for local and state systems in Maryland and Virginia. Lichtman serves on the boards of Forum: Qualitative Social Research (FQS) and The Qualitative Report (both online journals). In 2006 (revised 2009) Lichtman published Qualitative Research in Education for SAGE.

In addition to her professional work in education, she has taken a strong interest in art. Having served as a docent at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC for more than 15 years and most recently chairman of the Docent Council, she has integrated thoughts about art and qualitative research. She recently completed two courses in writing art criticism and issues in contemporary art in the joint program of The University of Illinois and the Phillips Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Culminating her interest in art, she took the Grand Tour of art venues in 2007, traveling with her daughter and son-in-law (both artists) to Art Basel (in Basel, Switzerland), Documenta 12 (in Kassel, Germany), and the Venice Biennale (Italy). You can read her blog at http://thegrandtour07.blogspot.com.

Lichtman can be contacted at MarilynLichtman09@gmail.com or mlichtma@vt.edu.