Identity area
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Authorized form of name
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
Julia Byrns Jarrell was born in Dallas, Texas in 1945. Jarrell participated in the Dallas Theatre Center when it was associated with Baylor University’s theatre program under the direction of Paul Baker. Jarrell attended Trinity University and received a BA in 1967 and a MA in 1980.
In 1970 she and her husband Charles Jarrell were invited to be part of the development team of what would become the Learning About Learning Educational Foundation. From 1974-1978 Jarrell was co-director with Cynthia Herbert of the foundation’s Lab School. Jarrell’s thesis publication, An interdisciplinary arts model for curriculum invention (1980) documents her work in the Lab School, with focus on the development of elementary school students’ multi-year ethnographic investigation of the traditional play Los Pastores. Jarrell utilized observational fieldwork in other projects with LAL such as the Future/Past (1972) mission field trips and publication and the City Scope program series (1983-1984).
After LAL closed in 1986, Jarrell led the LBJ Heartland Network with the National Parks Service and the Lyndon Baines Johnson National Historical Park, which fostered support for the area’s natural environment and cultural heritages.
From 2000-2016 Jarrell worked with Alamo Colleges International Program Office as a program and project developer and led several initiatives for international educators and youth.
After retirement, Jarrell dedicated her time to the Interfaith Welcome Coalition, visiting detention centers along the Texas border, speaking with women and children from Central America who were seeking asylum in the United States.
As of 2022, Jarell is working with other founding LAL members on legacy projects that chronicle the impact the foundation had with creative and differentiated educational thinking.