Early Childhood

Nonie K. Lesaux is the Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Roy E. Larsen Professor of Education and Human Development.

A member of the faculty since 2003, she studies strategies and innovations that improve learning opportunities and literacy outcomes for children and youth, and teaches literacy development, early learning, and leading system-level change. She co-directs the Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative, served as HGSE’s academic dean from 2017 to 2021, and previously chaired the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care. Her honors include the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and the William T. Grant Scholars Award, and she was elected to the National Academy of Education in 2019.

Salomey is a Program Manager with Compass Collaborative and a 2025–26 Zaentz Early Education Fellow.

She is a Harvard alumna working at the intersection of education, AI, research, and workforce development. Her experience spans higher education, international development, academic research, global partnerships, and EdTech entrepreneurship. She is the Founder of MEYFUND, which expands early learning opportunities for underserved children in Ghana, and was a project contributor to UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP). She has also held global roles at Unilever and Bosch, bringing a cross-sector perspective to building solutions that advance learning, opportunity, and workforce readiness.

Emily is Assistant Director of Learning Design and Communications for the Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative at HGSE.

Stephanie M. Jones is the Gerald S. Lesser Professor in Early Childhood Development at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she directs the EASEL Lab and co-directs the Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative with Nonie Lesaux.

In January 2026 she was appointed Faculty Director of the Harvard Center on the Developing Child. A developmental psychologist trained in child development, prevention science, and social policy, she studies the learning settings, family systems, and policies that shape child wellbeing from infancy through early adolescence, with experimental work on social-emotional competencies and the programs and pedagogy that foster them. She has led evaluations of programs including SECURe, SEL Kernels, and Head Start CARES, and is a recipient of the Grawemeyer Award in Education. She holds a B.A. from Barnard College and a Ph.D. from Yale University.

Meredith is the Saul Zaentz Professor of Early Learning and Development at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

She leads a research program on the role of parents and family factors in children’s early language and literacy development, identifying features of children’s early communicative environments that contribute to language and cognitive growth and applying that knowledge to caregiver interventions. She earned her doctorate in Human Development and Psychology from HGSE, completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Chicago, and was on the faculty at the University of Maryland before joining HGSE in 2014. Her work has been funded by NIH (NICHD), the National Science Foundation, and other foundations.