Dean of the School of Education

Welcome to the 2025-2026 academic year! I hope you had a fulfilling summer—whether you spent time with loved ones, advanced your scholarship or teaching, or finally completed that project you had set aside after the spring semester.

First, to our newly tenured and promoted faculty, Dr. Nakia Gray-Nicolas (Department of Educational and Community Programs), Dr. Grace Pai (Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education), and Dr. Marcela Ossa Parra (Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education), congratulations! And congratulations to Dr. Héfer Bembenutty in the Department of Secondary Education and Youth Services for his promotion to Professor!

 We are also very pleased to announce new and continuing appointments in the School of Education. Dr. Ann Ebe has joined the Dean’s Office as Director of the Office of Professional Practice and Community Partnerships. Ashley Zinnel, who served as Substitute Clinical Professor in the Department of Secondary Education and Youth Services, will now serve as Clinical Director in SEYS. Prof. Jessica Hernandez Fletcher will continue as a Substitute Assistant Professor in the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education. EECE will also welcome two substitute lecturers, Prof. Kristin Anderson and Prof. Jonathan Gutterman.

As we move through our accreditation year, we are gearing up for our CAEP Accreditation Site Visit scheduled from November 5-7, 2025. I would like to thank the entire School of Education/EPP community for their commitment to the accreditation process. This is a time for reflection and for showcasing the tremendous work of our programs and the many ways we support the student experience.

Some of the work that we will highlight this year includes our continued participation in the CUNY Computing Integrated Teacher Education (CITE) project. The School of Education CITE Community of Practice has done tremendous work in setting goals and creating artifacts that demonstrate our community to the CITE Framework. I especially want to thank Prof. Michelle Cassano-Repole, who served as the School of Education CITE Fellow, for her leadership. 

The School of Education was proud to receive funds from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Back to Basic Reading Plan to support the development of course-embedded micro-credentials in Early Childhood and Childhood Literacies, Content-Area Literacy, and Multilingual Literacies. I worked with an amazing team of faculty–Drs. Jacqueline Darvin, Ann Ebe, Ted Kesler, Anna Malyukova, and Marcela Ossa Parra–and our P-12 partner educators.  

In addition, I am excited to share that the School of Education received $1,671,180 from the State of New York, in partnership with the Office of Strategic Workforce Development (OSWD) and SUNY, to fund our Queens-Grown Upskilling Paraprofessional Program (see here for more information). 

Clinical practice in the School of Education/EPP continues to be a priority. We successfully piloted the Student Teaching Central Application and had a wonderful Faculty Retreat at the New York Hall of Science in March 2025, where we explored course-embedded fieldwork and opportunities to use the Hall of Science as a fieldwork site. Inspired by this work, departments reviewed their course-embedded fieldwork, and several programs began revisions for implementation this year. I look forward to seeing more of this work at the 2025 NYSATE–NYACTE Conference, where many faculty will be presenting.

We have several new and upcoming education programs in the School of Education. The Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education will have two new undergraduate programs: a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood and Childhood Education and a Bachelor of Science in Bilingual Early Childhood and Childhood. The Department of Educational and Community Programs has also added an MSED in Special Education (All Grades) and an Advanced Certificate in Special Education (All Grades), complementing its existing MSED in Special Education, Birth–Grade 2.

To begin the year, please save the date for our School of Education/EPP faculty meeting on September 29th from 10:15 am to 1:00 pm. More details on the location will follow.

As I begin my fourth year as Dean, I am struck by how quickly time has passed and how much we have accomplished together. These successes reflect the dedication and collective brilliance of the faculty and staff in the School of Education/EPP. I look forward to what we will achieve in 2025–26.

718-997-5220

718-997-5220