BREAKING: New GSE dean announced

Pam Grossman, a professor of education at Stanford University, will be the new dean of Penn’s Graduate School of Education.

Grossman will assume her new duties on Jan. 1, 2015, Penn President Amy Gutmann and Provost Vincent Price announced on Wednesday. Her predecessor, GSE Dean Andy Porter, will remain in his position until the end of 2014 — instead of until the end of this semester, as the University originally announced last year — in order to facilitate the transition between the two deans, Gutmann said in a statement.

Grossman’s background spans the K-12 classroom and teacher education. After graduating from Yale University, Grossman became a basic skills teacher in New Haven, Connecticut, later teaching high school English at two schools in California. Prior to her work at Stanford, Grossman was a professor at the University of Washington.

“Pam’s professional career brilliantly blends service as both a K-12 teacher and a scholar at the university level, giving her particular insight into how schools of education can respond to the needs of diverse populations of educators,” Gutmann said.

In addition to her professorship at Stanford, Grossman currently heads Stanford’s Center to Support Excellence in Teaching, an organization that studies the qualities of effective teachers. Grossman’s research has examined the changes facing teacher education, specifically in New York City.

“She has the right background, experience and skills to build partnerships across traditional disciplinary boundaries to maximize Penn’s impact on improving educational opportunities for young people around the nation and the world,” Gutmann said.

The University’s announcement of Grossman as the next GSE dean marks the end of four dean searches commissioned last year. Penn is still searching for Penn Law School Dean Michael Fitts’ replacement, since he will become President of Tulane University on July 1. 

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