The College of Education recently announced that Stafford Hood and Fouad Abd-El-Khalick have accepted new leadership positions at the college, effective this month.

Stafford Hood has been named Associate Dean for Research and Research Education for the College of Education. For the past three years, Hood served as head of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. In his new role as Associate Dean, he will foster and grow the college’s research portfolio, and he will retain the title of Sheila M. Miller Professor of Education. Hood has worked for the University of Illinois since 2008 and came to the U of I from Arizona State University, where he served as associate dean for research from 2004-08. Hood received his Ph.D. in education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1984. 

Fouad Abd-El-Khalick has been named the new Department Head for the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. He has been a faculty member at the College of Education since 2000, when he arrived on the U of I campus from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, where he was an assistant professor of science education. He earned his Ph.D. in science education from Oregon State University.

Abd-El-Khalick has held various positions in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, including division chair for mathematics, science, and technology and member of the faculty advisory committee. He has also served as director of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Education Collaborative.

According to Dean of the college Mary Kalantzis, the College of Education is fortunate to have professors Hood and Abd-El-Khalick move into the new leadership roles. “Dr. Hood’s previous experience and scholarship profile make him uniquely qualified for this position,” she said. “His extensive leadership experience, creative spirit, and dedication to our college will undoubtedly contribute to strengthening our research culture.”

About the new head of Curriculum and Instruction, Kalantzis noted that “Professor Abd-El-Khalick has a long history of conducting rigorous and meaningful research within STEM, and he has been successful in securing and managing large scale grants. He also has a record of successfully building collaborations within the department, the college, and across campus.”

Sarah Lubienski, Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, has been named Director of the STEM Education Research Collaborative. The collaborative advances teaching, learning, and policy in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. Lubienski has been a faculty member at the College since 2004 and holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum, Teaching and Educational Policy from Michigan State University. Her scholarship centers around intersections of education and equity, focusing on mathematics achievement, instruction, and reform.