Dr. Janice M. Gruendel Bio
Dr. Janice M. Gruendel has nearly 20 years of experience in State of Connecticut government, serving for the past four years as Senior Advisor on Children and Youth for Connecticut’s Governor M. Jodi Rell. She was appointed to the Connecticut Senior Executive Service and also served at the deputy commissioner level in the Departments of Children and Families, Developmental Disabilities, and Public Health and in the CT Corrections Department. She also co-founded and served as co-president of Connecticut Voices for Children, a statewide children’s advocacy organization, and she worked in the for-profit sector as Vice President for Education and Technology in a children’s entertainment business, Rabbit Ears Productions. She currently holds a position as Adjunct Lecturer at the Yale University Child Study Center.
In her recently completed assignment as advisor to the governor, she co-chaired the CT Early Childhood Education Cabinet, the state’s initiative to develop a comprehensive, seamless birth to age nine (B-9) system for children and families. She has extensive experience in policy, fiscal and data analysis, strategic planning, program management and assessment, research, early childhood data systems development, and community planning. Gruendel has authored numerous publications and technical reports, the most recent of which are online at the Cabinet’s Early Childhood Investment Initiative website – www.ctearlychildhood.org. Dr. Gruendel is currently serving as a consultant to the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care and is also funded by the Nellie Mae Foundation and the Gates Foundation to assist the Connecticut Department of Education in writing its Race to the Top ARRA application.
Dr. Gruendel received her Ph.D. from Yale University in Developmental Psychology, studying under Professor Edward Zigler. She also holds a Masters Degree in Educational Psychology from the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education. Her B.A. degree in Sociology was awarded by the University of Maryland, magna cum laude. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Gruendel is married to an Appellate Court judge and has three sons and six grandchildren.