National Association for Multicultural Education Logo

Advancing and Advocating for Social Justice & Equity

National Association for
Multicultural Education

Celebrating the Life of Dr. Philip Chinn

We were saddened to learn of the recent passing of our long-time NAME colleague, Dr. Philip Chinn. Philip C. Chinn, professor emeritus at California State University–Los Angeles, served on the Board of Directors of the NAME from 1995 to 2001 as a Regional Director and Vice President. He also served NAME as the co-editor of the NAME journal, Multicultural Perspectives, with Penny Lisi from 1999 to 2002 and has been honored by NAME with an award in his name—the Philip C. Chinn Book Award. Phil also worked closely with former Executive Director Bette Tate Beaver to develop the annual conference program for NAME’s first virtual conference in 2020, which was initially to be held in Anaheim, California.

At CSU-Los Angeles, Dr. Chinn taught multicultural education and special education and served as Special Education Division chair. Previously he was an administrator at the University of North Texas,  taught at the University of Utah, and was the special assistant to the Executive Director for Minority Affairs at the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), where he coordinated the first national conferences on the Exceptional Bilingual Child and the Exceptional Black Child. He has coauthored two special education texts. The 12th edition of Multicultural Education in a Pluralistic Society, coauthored with Donna M. Gollnick, was published in 2024. He also served on the California State Advisory Commission for Special Education and was a Board of Examiners for the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). Dr. Chinn was a recipient of the President’s Award from the National Association for Bilingual Education and the Advocate for Justice Award from AACTE.

Dr. Chinn passed on September 17, 2024. His wife, Fran, is also a NAME member, and the two of them were still attending annual NAME conferences prior to 2020.

In appreciation of his meaningful work and dear friendship, donations in memory of Dr. Chinn can be made at NAME’s website (https://www.nameorg.org/contact_donate.php).