New dean for the Graduate School of Education

UC Berkeley Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Claude Steele sent this message today to the campus community:

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce that Professor Prudence Carter has accepted appointment to the position of dean of the Graduate School of Education. Prudence will assume her new role on June 30, 2016. A member of the National Academy of Education, a newly elected member of the Sociological Research Association and a Fellow of the American Research Association, she will bring to Berkeley her stature as a scholar, strong vision for leadership for the field of education and passionate commitment to public education.

Prudence Carter (Photo by Eddie Richardson)

Prudence Carter is currently the Jacks Family Professor of Education and Professor of Sociology (by courtesy) at Stanford University, where she teaches a range of courses on racial and ethnic relations, social and cultural inequality, the sociology of education, urban schooling and research methods. She is also the faculty director of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities and earlier she served as the co-director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity in Policy in Education. Prior to joining the Stanford faculty in 2007, Professor Carter was Associate Professor of Sociology at Harvard University and a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

A native Mississippian, Dr. Carter is a product of public schools in Clarksdale and Jackson. She graduated from Brown University with a bachelor of science degree in applied mathematics and economics, earned an M.A. in sociology and education from Columbia University, Teachers College, and an M. Phil. and Ph.D. in sociology from Columbia University.

Dr. Carter is the author of two books, Keepin’ It Real: School Success Beyond Black and White (Oxford University Press, 2005) and Stubborn Roots: Race, Culture, and Inequality in U.S. and South African Schools (Oxford University Press, 2012), and she is co-editor of Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give All Children an Even Chance (Oxford University Press, 2013). Dr. Carter has also published numerous articles, book chapters and essays; and her research has been featured in multiple television and print news outlets and documentaries.

I want to thank Elliot Turiel, who has served as interim dean of the Graduate School of Education since July 1, 2015. Elliot set aside numerous professional and personal commitments to take on the role of interim dean, and the chancellor and I are very grateful to him for doing so. He has agreed to continue as interim dean until Dr. Carter’s first day with the GSE, after which he will return to his role as a faculty member in the school. It is difficult to imagine how the campus could have navigated this transition period without Elliot’s expertise, commitment and leadership.

Please join me in thanking Elliot for his service and welcoming Prudence to her new position.

Sincerely,

Claude M. Steele
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost