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Spina selected for prestigious position

Lamar University is proud to announce that Robert Spina, dean of Lamar University’s College of Education and Human Development, has been tapped to serve on the Deans Council for the Carnegie Project on the Education Bob SpinaDoctorate. CPED is a group of more than 100 colleges/schools of education, that work together to examine doctorate in education programs “through dialog, experimentation, critical feedback and evaluation.”

Spina has been in his role at Lamar University since 2015. He has nearly 30 years of combined teaching, research and service and was associate dean of undergraduate education and college assessment at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. before coming to LU.

“I’m very excited about this opportunity,” said Spina. “And I’m eager to contribute to the important and transformative work that is ahead for this organization.”

The vision of CPED is “to inspire all schools of education to apply the CPED framework to the preparation of educational leaders to become well-equipped scholarly practitioners who provide stewardship of the profession and meet the educational challenges of the 21st century.” Recently, however, the CPED Board of Directors drafted new bylaws and created governance in order to clarify the responsibilities of the board of directors and establish the Deans Council (as well as a “Delegates Council”) for the purposes of shaping, strengthening and providing more direction to the organization.

The Deans Council Spina will serve is comprised of 10-15 deans from member institutions of CPED who serve to shape and guide the future of the organization. Specifically, the body will increase the representation of member institutions in CPED governance and provide wisdom in the strategy of CPED for long-term growth and development. Additionally, the Deans Council will participate in long-term planning of the council, membership selections of deans to the council and governance of CPED, while establishing priorities for the organization in a strategic manner.

Since its inception in 2007, CPED has more than quadrupled the number of member organizations and received more than one million dollars in grant funding. The titles of grant projects include “The Education Doctorate: A Promising Strategy to Promote Smart Use of Research Evidence,” “Redesign of the Professional Practice Doctorate in Education” and “Improving Education: Blending Improvement Science Research Methods and Networked Communities to Learn in and Through Practice.”