Rowan to lead Wisconsin Center for Education Research

Brian Rowan, professor of educational studies and former associate dean for research at the University of Michigan, has been selected as director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research in the School of Education.

“I feel confident that the future of WCER is in highly capable hands,” says Charles Read, dean of the School of Education. Read praises Rowan’s compelling vision for the future of the center, and his impressive record as a researcher and a leader.

Rowan, who received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1978, is a sociologist with scholarly interests in the organizational analysis of schools, instructional leadership and school-effectiveness research.

Prior to joining the education faculty at the University of Michigan, he was an associate professor and chair of the Department of Educational Administration at Michigan State University and a senior research director at the Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development.

At WCER, Rowan succeeds Andrew Porter, former professor of educational psychology, who took a position at Vanderbilt University. Rowan, who will join the faculty as a professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies, will begin his new position in late August.

Established in 1964, WCER is one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most influential university-based education research and development centers, and among the largest research units on campus. Its current annual external funding totals $23.65 million — with 62 percent from the National Science Foundation, 22 percent from the U.S. Department of Education, 9 percent from other federal sources, 6 percent from private sources and 1.5 percent from the state of Wisconsin.

The center currently houses 50 active projects spanning the scope of education, from infant childcare and after-school programs to undergraduate curriculum reform. Specific areas include teaching, learning and professional development; educational policy and accountability; student learning and achievement in mathematics and science; English and writing instruction; childcare, family and community programs; higher education; assessment and intervention in special education; and educational technology.

WCER, based in the Educational Sciences Buildings, has 296 personnel, including 33 principal investigators, mostly faculty members, from across the campus.

The center’s researchers often work in interdisciplinary teams and develop large-scale collaborations with school, state and university partners to develop and test research-based interventions and models of best practice.

For example, WCER is home to a five-year, $35 million initiative to improve the way science and math are taught in the nation’s schools. This project involves more than 80 faculty and staff members from across campus and a partnership with the University of Pittsburgh, the Los Angeles Unified School District, Denver Public Schools, Providence Public Schools and the Madison Metropolitan School District.