Carol Colbeck

Dean, School of Education

Carol L. Colbeck succeeded Alfonzo Thurman as Dean of the School of Education on July 1, 2011. Colbeck served as dean of the College of Education and Human Development, and professor of higher education, at the University of Massachusetts-Boston since 2007. As chief academic and fiscal officer for the college, she was responsible for providing inspirational leadership, promoting sound management, and advocating for the CEHD. As dean, CEHD moved from an operational budget deficit to fiscal responsibility, passed a pilot outcomes-based review of licensure programs by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, implemented an undergraduate program in Early Education and Care in Inclusive Settings, secured preliminary approval for a three-track Ph.D. program in Counseling and School Psychology, and doubled the number of faculty proposals for external funding.

Prior to that, she was director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE) at Penn State, the top-ranked research center on higher education in the US.

Colbeck earned her B.A. in English (with distinction) from Stanford University in 1973, her M.A. in Sociology from Stanford in 1993, and her Ph.D. in Administration and Policy Analysis/Higher Education from Stanford in 1996.