Published Monday, March 21, 2005
After Three Years at Helm, Lagemann Resigns
'I Had Never Wanted to Be a Dean'
By Andrew K. Mandel
APPIAN STAFF WRITER

Ellen Condliffe Lagemann, who left the presidency of the Spencer Foundation three years ago to lead the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), announced today that she will step down as dean at the end of the academic year.  She will retain her title as Charles Warren Professor of the History of American Education.

Lagemann's tenure is considerably shorter than those of former deans Patricia Graham and Jerome Murphy, who served in their posts for about a decade each.  Lagemann, a former professor at both New York University and Teachers College, described her decision as personal and difficult.

"I have decided to take this step with considerable reluctance and after a great deal of thought," she wrote in a message to the public. "Three years ago, when I agreed to become Dean of the Ed School, I did so with considerable trepidation. I knew that I was first and foremost a scholar and a teacher and that I had never wanted to be a dean. Having now had the extraordinary opportunity of serving as Dean of HGSE for three years, I have decided it is time for me to return to teaching and scholarship."

HGSE has become a far more centralized institution than the school Lagemann inherited from acting deans John Willett and Judith Singer in 2002.  During her deanship, the faculty launched the beginnings of a core curriculum and eliminated the three academic areas--Administration, Planning and Social Policy, Human Development and Psychology, and Learning and Teaching--that had defined the school for a generation.

The school has also seen New York University successfully recruit several notable senior faculty members, including Carol Gilligan, Pedro Noguera and Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, leading student groups to express concern over the disappearance of gender studies and faculty members of color.

During her tenure, Lagemann, the author of An Elusive Science: The Troubling History of Education Research, advocated for scholars of education to pursue "usable knowledge" that would be both rigorous in methodology and accessible to practitioners. She and Harvard University President Lawrence Summers expressed a shared interest in having HGSE take more of an active role in improving K-12 education.

Fifteen minutes after Lagemann announced her decision to resign via e-mail, Summers followed suit with a message of his own. 

"We will, of course, be promptly launching a search for Ellen's successor. I will be in touch soon about preliminary plans for the search, and will want to ensure close consultation with the GSE faculty and the wider school community," Summers wrote.

The new dean will bear the responsibility of stewarding HGSE during its relocation across the Charles River to Allston, a development also announced during Lagemann's tenure.

Keep reading The Appian for more on this developing story.

Andrew K. Mandel is an Ed.M. candidate in Technology in Education program and a member of the Appian Board of Editors.