Letter from the Dean

I can hardly believe it’s been a year since I began my tenure as dean of Penn GSE. I am thankful for the warm welcome I received from our incredible community of students and alumni, faculty and staff, partners and supporters. I am also grateful for the time many of you have taken to share your hopes for the School, and for the work we’ve already accomplished together in a short time.

It would be pointless, however, to pretend that this year has been easy at Penn, or at any higher education institution. We have experienced deep unrest and pain among many members of our Penn community, and we have worked here at GSE to ensure that all feel welcome, included, and valued. Through it all, we recognized that the work we do— educating future teachers, counselors, leaders, researchers, and changemakers—is more important than ever.

Penn GSE has a more than 100-year legacy of excellence in producing inspirational educators and vanguard research. And when I think about how we can continue that tradition while tackling the most pressing challenges of our day, I keep coming back to these four key areas for action:

1. Expand our engagement with our local, regional, national, and global communities: We can start local. Philadelphia is more than just our home; it is our partner. While Penn GSE is already facilitating partnerships with hundreds of schools and communities across the city, I want to advance this work via collaborative research initiatives with the school district. Similarly, we already work with and for communities throughout the Commonwealth, but I am eager to grow these collaborations that serve Pennsylvania’s students and educators.

2. Supercharge the educator pipeline: A cornerstone of our work has always been nurturing the next generation of teachers and school leaders, and that work has never been more crucial. Good teachers are one of the most critical components of student success, and they go on to become the next crop of effective principals and superintendents. By supporting and strengthening the pipeline of educators through scholarships, professional development, and more, we will invest in those who will invest in our children.

3. Embrace hard conversations: Education is the bedrock of informed citizenship, critical thinking, and civil discourse. Citizens of tomorrow need to know how to conduct discussions around difference. Our faculty are uniquely primed to help nurture these skills and champion education as foundational to democracy.

4. Spur education innovation: Technology is evolving at breakneck speed. We must embrace radical new ways of teaching and learning, developing pedagogy that harnesses the power of AI, virtual reality, and ed tech tools to unlock previously unimaginable experiences and redefine what’s possible for the future of education.

I am inspired by these possibilities, and I hope you are, too. They build off work Penn GSE is already doing and, I hope, will help us write the next chapter for our School, our communities, and our field. Your feedback is important to me, and I hope you’ll share your thoughts when I come to a city near you in the coming year.

All my best,