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Office of the Provost, Division of Academic Affairs, University of Maryland

Announcements

New Dean of the College of Education

Colleagues:

I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Jennifer King Rice as Dean of the College of Education, effective July 1, 2017. 

Dr. Rice joined the College of Education (EDUC) in 1995 as an assistant professor. She is currently Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Faculty Affairs and Professor of education policy. She has also served the College as founding director of the Center for Educational Policy and Leadership, during which time she established important relationships with a number of policy research organizations including The Urban Institute, The Economic Policy Institute, and The Finance Project. Dr. Rice has consulted with numerous state and federal organizations including the Maryland State Department of Education, the Maryland State Attorney General’s Office, and the U.S. Dept. of Education, where she served two terms on the National Center for Education Statistics Technical Planning Panel on Education Finance. Prior to joining UMD, Dr. Rice conducted research at Mathematica Policy Research in the District of Columbia and at the Finance Center of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education at Cornell University.

Dr. Rice earned her B.S. in mathematics and English at Marquette University and her M.S. and Ph.D. in education administration and social foundations at Cornell University. Drawing on her strong grounding in economics, finance, and public policy and a deep commitment to equity, her research is, in her own words, “guided by the overarching question of how to most efficiently acquire and allocate resources to provide equitable and adequate educational opportunities for all students.” Her work has provided conceptual frameworks and empirical evidence on various education policies, and her recent work focuses on the policies and resources needed to staff all schools with high quality educators. Dr. Rice has a distinguished record of publications including numerous books, book chapters, and peer-reviewed journal articles, and her policy-relevant work has reached beyond academia to broad audiences through mainstream media outlets and presentations at the National Press Club, Capitol Hill, state legislatures, and other professional educator meetings.

Dr. Rice has served the campus with distinction in many roles, some of which include the University Senate, chair of the campus APT (Appointments, Promotion, and Tenure) Committee, an ADVANCE professorship, the President’s Commission Task Force on Innovations and Efficiencies in Administrative Services, and Chair of the Graduate School Review Committee. She is past president of the Association for Education Finance and Policy and she has been a Fellow with the National Education Policy Center, the Big Ten Academic Alliance, the Urban Institute, and the National Academy of Education and Spencer Foundation. She received the Exceptional Scholarship Award from the College of Education and the Outstanding Writing Award from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. She was recently recognized as a University of Maryland Distinguished Scholar-Teacher.

President Loh and I want to take this opportunity not only to say how enthusiastic we are about the future of the College of Education under Dr. Rice’s leadership, but also to thank outgoing Dean Donna Wiseman for her outstanding service to the College and the University as dean for the past ten years. 

I also want to thank the search committee, chaired by former Dean Jane E. Clark, and our friends at Isaacson Miller for the excellent job done conducting this search.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Rice to her new role as Dean.

Sincerely,

Mary Ann Rankin