My name is Steve Klees.  I was essentially an undergraduate liberal arts major at Queens College, part of the City University of New York system.  I went to Stanford University for graduate school and wound up with Master’s Degrees in business and economics and a Ph.D. focused on economics and public policy.  I consider myself a political economist which to me means being a critic of mainstream economics and politics – with a particular interest in what the alternatives are.  I have been an academic for most of my almost 50-year career, working in the areas of education, economics, and international development.  For the past 20 years I have been a professor at the University of Maryland in their College of Education and was recently honored to have been selected as a University Distinguished Scholar-Teacher.  I have written a ton of stuff over the years – books, articles, and book chapters, mostly for an academic and policy audience, as well as a number of blogs and op eds for a more general audience.

In 2020, I published my first and only book for a general audience, The Conscience of a Progressive.  More about my book can be found on this website.  I felt then and now that a critical progressive perspective is not sufficiently expressed on the issues of the day and felt that I have something useful to say.  I am now using that same title for my new blog and hope you find it interesting!  I may do some blogs about my research specializations, but, at least initially, my blog will focus on a progressive view of current issues, especially as they are depicted on popular media, especially television news shows.