Washington, March 11 - Dean Donna Browder Evans of the Ohio State University College of Education has been named chair of the Council of the Great City Colleges of Education, a group of deans from 75 universities nationwide collaborating with urban school leaders to improve public education in America's big-city schools.
Evans, who has been a member of the group's steering committee, succeeds Dean Phillip Rusche of California State University-Northridge, who has led the Great City Colleges of Education since its inception in 1993.
The deans group is an affiliate of the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS), a coalition representing the nation's largest urban public school systems. When it was formed nearly 10 years ago, the Great City Colleges of Education became the country's first network of institutions representing elementary, secondary and higher education working solely to improve urban schools.
"Our affiliation with the nation's deans of colleges of education in urban centers strengthens our mission to heighten the quality of education for our more than 6.6 million urban schoolchildren," says CGCS Executive Director Michael Casserly.
The deans will soon begin working with the Great City Schools on a professional development initiative for teaching in reading.
Ohio State's Dean Evans, who earned a Ph.D. and two other degrees from the university, brings practical classroom experience as well as higher education leadership to her new role in heading the national group of deans. She had been a classroom teacher, guidance counselor and mathematics teacher in Ohio's Columbus Public Schools. Before taking the helm at Ohio State's College of Education in 2000, Evans had been dean of the Darden College of Education at Old Dominion University in Virginia for five years. Prior to that, she had been dean at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville and Wayne State University in Detroit.
Evans' work in urban education to improve learning in inner-city schools is backed by a dedication to balance scholarship with teacher preparation. She believes a strong research agenda is necessary for better educational policy nationwide.
