Courtesy News Service OF ALL THE WAYS a dean can leave his or her mark, perhaps none is more powerful than making faculty appointments. By that measure, Richard Shavelson has had a deep impact at the School of Education in his five years on the job. By filling 11 vacancies and hiring seven professors for new slots, he has helped select more than 40 percent of the school's 44-member faculty.
Administrators come and go, and students come and go, but faculty is the backbone.
Provost John Hennessy credits Shavelson with bringing more racial and gender diversity to the Education School. Fifty-five percent of Shavelson's faculty hires are women, and 28 percent are minorities. Shavelson, PhD '71, has been leading educational enterprises for almost two decades. He took the helm of the Education School in January 1995 after seven years as dean of the graduate school of education at UC-Santa Barbara and five years as an administrator at the Rand Corporation. Now he says he wants to return to research and spend more time with his family.