Rossier School of Education announces incoming dean


By
 in , ,
(Photo courtesy of USC News)

Pedro Noguera will serve as the Rossier School of Education’s new dean, Provost Charles Zukoski announced in a memorandum to the USC community Monday. He will take office July 1.

Noguera currently works as a professor of education at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. He will replace Karen Symms Gallagher, who has led the Rossier school since 2000 and chose to step down to a Rossier faculty position effective June 30. 

“Dr. Noguera, who will be the Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean of Rossier, joins USC as the school and university community together chart a safe path toward a post-COVID recovery,” the email read. “He will draw on his deep experience to hold the school’s mission paramount — to prepare leaders to achieve educational equity through practice, research, and policy.”

Noguera currently serves on the board of the Economic Policy Institute, the National Equity Project, The Nation magazine and City Year Los Angeles.

Noguera has previously taught at New York University, Harvard University and UC Berkeley. He was also appointed as an education policy adviser to the governor of New Mexico and advises the state departments of education in Washington, Oregon and Nevada. 

“President Folt and I very much look forward to Dr. Noguera’s partnership with our senior leadership team,” Zukoski’s email read. “We know he will bring intellect, enthusiasm, and creative ideas to our team.”

According to the email, Noguera has won awards for research and advocacy in the fight against poverty from Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, the National Association of Secondary School Principals and McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at NYU. He has also received seven honorary doctorates. 

Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism Dean Willow Bay and Interim Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs John Matsusaka spearheaded the search committee for the next Rossier dean. The search began last fall after Gallagher announced her intention in May to not apply for a fifth term as dean.