Longtime education faculty member Lorrie Shepard has been named dean of the School of Education at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The appointment is pending approval by the Board of Regents at its budget retreat meeting on May 30 and will be effective June 1 if approved.
Shepard will take over the post vacated by Dean William Stanley who resigned in April to accept the education dean position at the University of Redlands in Redlands, Calif.
Shepard is a professor of research methodology in the CU-Boulder School of Education and is frequently cited as a national authority on standardized testing and assessment and kindergarten readiness.
"The Boulder campus and the School of Education are extremely fortunate that Lorrie Shepard has agreed to be the next dean of the School of Education," said CU-Boulder Provost Phil DiStefano. "As a scholar in assessment, Lorrie has a national and international reputation that will assist the school in recruiting outstanding faculty and students."
Shepard has requested that faculty and staff have an opportunity to do a formal evaluation of her performance after her first year as dean, and depending on the results of the evaluation, has agreed to serve for a term of up to three years.
"I am proud of the school's faculty for their exceptional accomplishment in both teaching and research and am thankful for their support," Shepard said.
She added, "I have promised my students that I won't completely disappear into the world of administration."
She joined the CU-Boulder School of Education faculty in 1974 and was appointed interim dean in 1996.
Shepard received her bachelor of arts degree in history from Pomona College in California in 1968 and her master of arts in counseling from CU-Boulder in 1970. She earned her doctorate in educational research, methodology, evaluation and measurement from CU-Boulder in 1972.
Shepard was appointed full professor in 1985, and from 1989 to 1995 she was director of graduate studies in the School of Education. She served as president of the American Educational Research Association, the most prominent national and international organization devoted to advancing educational research.
Shepard also is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Education and has served as its vice president.
She is the author of several books and dozens of journal articles.
CU-Boulder's School of Education was ranked 31st among graduate colleges of education in the US News & World Report Best Colleges April 9 edition.