By SUSAN JONES
The search committee for a new dean of the School of Education concluded its input gathering sessions with an open forum on Dec. 8, in which attendees said the next dean should have a strong research background, be politically and financially astute and be willing to further the school’s diversity and equity work.
Lu-in Wang, vice provost for faculty affairs, and Betsy Farmer, dean of the School of Social Work, are co-chairing the search committee. They are being assisted by WittKieffer, an executive search firm that has specialized in education dean searches. The committee will develop a job description, do Zoom interviews with seven to 15 candidates and then invite the two or three most promising to campus as finalists.
The search will open in mid-December and will be accepting applications through February, with the goal of identifying the semi-finalists in early March. The finalists will meet with small groups in April, along with interim Provost Joe McCarthy. The plan is to make an offer before the end of next semester and have someone in place in summer 2024. Chancellor Joan Gabel has said that she hopes to have a new provost identified in the spring who also will contribute to the dean decision.
Valerie Kinloch, who had been dean of the school since July 2017, left this summer to become president of Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C. Eboni Zamani-Gallaher, who came to Pitt last year as associate dean for equity, justice and strategic partnerships, began serving as interim dean on Aug. 1.
Pitt community members and friends also can share thoughts and feedback regarding the next dean through a Community Survey or with search committee members. Input and nominations also can be sent directly to WittKieffer at PittEducationDean@wittkieffer.com.
The search is open to internal and external candidates, whose names will all be kept confidential.
“Confidentiality is an important aspect of an executive search at this level,” Farmer said. “We want to make sure that people can feel comfortable and free to express interest in the position without potentially jeopardizing where they currently are.”
Participant input
“One thing that I’m really looking for … is someone who can be fair, of course, but someone who can also have a lot of humility and connection with a wide range of constituents,” said Shannon Wanless, from the Office of Child Development. She stressed this mean dealing with people inside the University and outside through community engagement.
“Something I’d like to see is a very strong research background from the dean that’s coming in,” said Rip Correnti, a professor in the school’s Department of Teaching, Learning, and Leading with a joint appointment in the Learning Research and Development Center. “Somebody who appreciates and has done research and comes with that perspective, and is interested in building a community around research at the school. I feel like we don’t know enough about what each other does in the school right now.”
Maureen McClure, director of the Institute for International Studies in Education, said schools of education are having to deal with many more political issues, mostly from outside groups, and “I think we need to have people who are much more politically astute having to deal with things like state legislatures.”
The strategic priorities the next dean should focus on, according to forum participants, are:
Equity and justice: “We have put a lot of energy into developing our focus on equity and justice,” Wanless said. “But I also really feel like that needs a lot of strength from the next dean to solidify it and keep it going strong.”
Artificial intelligence: Correnti said the next dean needs to have ideas around what a School of Education can do to contribute to the AI conversation.
Revenue generation: Given the school’s “complicated relationship with enrollments” and the new budget model, McClure said it’s important to pay attention to creating revenue and being able to articulate what the school has to offer.
In three to five years under a new dean, Correnti said he’d like to see the school be a vibrant learning community with more people in the building and more collaborations — between and among students and faculty and between the School of Education and other schools and departments at Pitt.
“I think we’re really at a unique point in this school moving into the undergrad space much more than we have been in the past,” said Sheila Conway, associate professor of practice, Department of Teaching, Learning and Leading, and a member of the search committee. “When we had the dean search for (Kinloch), one of the things that we kept saying was we want a dean who can get us into the undergrad space. It took a long time, but now we’re there and it’s a whole different world engaging with students who are here full time, are really committed to a lot of the things that we believe in our mission and vision, and bring really diverse connections and backgrounds. I think it’s a point to launch into lots of different exciting avenues.”
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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