On June 30, 2015, the responsibility of addressing current changes facing education policy will become someone else’s duty.
“The School of Education is an institution with a great national and international reputation,” Gonzalez said. “I’ve always wanted to build on that reputation.”
Under Gonzalez’s leadership, the school’s graduate program was recently ranked 25th in the country , while its online program was ranked second in the country, Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said one of the first steps he took in an attempt to build on the school’s reputation was to develop a strategic plan.
“That was before strategic planning was popular,” he said. “But I thought having a strategic plan that represented a shared vision for the entire school was important.”
The strategic plan laid out the steps necessary to prepare excellent teachers, improve graduate education, strengthen partnerships, develop technology and improve diversity, Gonzalez said.
“As I look back on the last 15 years, we have made progress in all of (these goals),” he said. “And I can point to specific things that have evolved because we had a strategic vision and we committed our resources and we were able to work together well to advance that vision.”
As dean, Gonzalez said he encouraged the development of IU’s only online doctorate program, urging faculty to work in teams to compete for funding to develop segments of the online doctorate program.
“While it was the faculty that created those programs, I like to think that I was able to support the faculty and to provide the resources that allowed them to create those programs at the highest level of quality,” he said.
As dean, Gonzalez said he also encouraged the formation of two joint degrees: one with the Kelley School of Business and another with the Maurer School of Law.
“Education is inherently an interdisciplinary field,” he said.
Kelley School of Business students can combine a master’s degree in strategic management with a doctoral degree in educational leadership, Gonzalez said, while Maurer School of Law students can combine a doctoral degree in jurisprudence with a minor in education policy.
Both joint degrees prepare students to tackle the current challenges facing education policy, Gonzalez said.
“America, I think, has come to the realization that if it is going to remain competitive in a global economy, it is going to have to improve its educational system,” he said. “And the research is very clear that the single most important factor in improving student achievement is the quality of the teachers.”
Current policies have both transformed methods of evaluation, basing teachers’ performances on their students’ achievement, and encouraged drops in teachers’ salaries, Gonzalez said.
In Indiana, teachers’ salaries have dropped 10 percent throughout the past 10 years, second only to North Carolina, where teachers’ salaries have dropped 14 percent throughout the past 10 years, Gonzalez said.
As a result, enrollment in the School of Education has dropped 30 percent in the past few years, Gonzalez said.
“The policies out there are such that they are discouraging some of the people that we need most, the best and brightest, to come into education,” he said.
The Bicentennial Strategic Plan also addressed the current challenges facing education policy.
“I was very pleased to see President McRobbie identify the School of Education and education as one of the strategic priorities for the Bicentennial Strategic Plan because that says that the University, not just the School of Education, will use its resources and its influence to, I hope, affect these kinds of policies that are undermining our schools,” he said.
The Bicentennial Strategic Plan states President McRobbie’s intent to appoint a Blue Ribbon Review Committee to conduct a review of directions and trends in teacher education and education research, meant to inform a possible restructuring of education from the schools of education on all campuses.
“This review will not only be relevant to the search for next dean of the School of Education on the core campuses, but it will also inform the future structure, direction and approach of the schools of education on all campuses,” McRobbie said in his State of the University Address Oct. 14.
Gonzalez said he hopes the next dean is both resilient and passionate, as the current challenges facing education policy are both difficult and complex.
“I am a firm believer that you can’t do this job unless you enjoy it,” he said. “There was never a day in my career when I got up in the morning and said, ‘Oh my god, I have to go deal with that problem’ or ‘I have to go to work.’ I always came to work excited about the possibilities.”
