Message from the Interim Dean
It is my honor and pleasure to serve as the interim dean of the UMKC School of Education, a school that I have been proud to call my professional home for the past thirteen years. Since assuming the interim deanship in June, I have been humbled at the response of the SOE faculty, students, staff, and alumni to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the renewed and strengthened call for racial equity and inclusion, and to many other challenges and opportunities that this year has presented.
As we bring 2020 to a close, I am pleased to have the opportunity to highlight how the School of Education responded to this year through creative activity, research, and professional preparation. In this inaugural newsletter, we also provide several updates to ways in which our academic programming is evolving to meet our mission of preparing outstanding teachers, leaders, and mental health professionals for service to richly-diverse communities in Kansas City and beyond. Finally, I also want to briefly take the chance to acknowledge two colleagues who have taken on new roles with the School of Education beginning this fall: Jacob Marszalek, Ph.D., who joined the dean's office as interim associate dean in September to oversee faculty affairs, graduate affairs, and assessment; and Shelly Beech, Ed.S., who joined the division of educational leadership, policy, and foundations as an associate professor of professional practice and leadership coach with the KC-PLUS program, which you can read more about below.
Best wishes,
Carolyn Barber, Ph.D.
Interim Dean and Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation/Missouri Endowed Faculty Chair