Eleven days into his new position as dean of the College of Education, Donald Heller knows he has much to learn.
He recently left his posts as an education professor and director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Penn State University. At MSU, he now moves to the forefront of one of the top education colleges in a country where he said many consider the educational system broken.
It’s no pressure, Heller said.
According to the U.S. News & World Report’s 2012 edition, two of the college’s graduate study areas — elementary and secondary education — ranked No. 1. Five other programs placed in the top 10.
“I’m very fortunate to be coming into a college that’s in very good shape,” Heller said. “Education and educators really are under attack right now from a lot of fronts. … It’s certainly going to be part of our mission to help respond to some of those attacks.”
Although Heller lacks previous dean experience, he said his work concerning issues related to higher education and college affordability will become blueprints toward shaping new policies and initiatives at MSU.
To start, further publicizing the successes of the college’s research on education and the training of students will serve as defenses against national attacks on education issues including graduation rates and the effectiveness of teachers, he said.
As less than two weeks have passed as dean, Heller said he’s paying attention to such success but added there always is room for improvement.
“I made it clear to people during the fall (while interviewing for the position that) I was not going to come in and on my first week on the job, start laying out all my priorities,” he said. “Instead, I want to really understand what is going on at the college first.”
Associate education professor Gail Richmond said the college’s long-standing commitment to programs, such as urban education and teacher certification, position it well for moving forward.
“I’m looking forward to having (Heller) as a leader of the college,” she said. “He brings an enormous amount of expertise … to what we’re looking for.”
Elementary education senior Cathryn Bode said she credits the college and its staff for giving her skills for becoming a teacher in the future.
But she added Heller and college administrators should take the attacks being made against education and turn them into positives.
“It’s necessary to get the opinion of students and teachers, both from K-12 and the university,” she said. “I don’t think they are heard enough.”
Even with the criticism surrounding the U.S. education system, Heller said he’s amazed students still want to become teachers and other educational leaders at the college.
“We still have people knocking on the doors,” he said. “I take that as a positive sign.”
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