Innovate, Inspire, Imagine

Thank you for visiting our Gevirtz Graduate School of Education website. I hope you will explore it thoroughly to discover more about the School’s faculty, students, and staff and to learn about UC Santa Barbara – one of only 62 universities in the elite American Association of Universities.

The Gevirtz School is a hub of educational innovation with world-class research produced by distinguished faculty and rising star graduate students. As you look through the website you will find evidence of breakthrough research in autism, culture and language, educational policy, international education and psychology, literacy, positive psychology, research methods, resilience and recovery from trauma, school safety, science and mathematics education, second language learning, strengths-based interventions with vulnerable populations, and writing… to name just a few of our areas of distinction.

We host three vital clinics – in autism, mental health, and reading and language arts – that are research, teaching, and service treasures for both the campus and community. These centers allow basic research to be tested and then translated to schools and mental health agencies across the globe. Each serves as an essential conduit of current research frameworks and evidence-based practice.

We are also home to several research centers. These bring together faculty and students from across the School and University to investigate the most important questions in educational and psychological science.  For example, the Center for School-Basted Youth Development investigates a range of critical questions that range from academic readiness for kindergarten to strategies to prevent young Latino males from joining antisocial gangs. 

The Gevirtz School has partnered with the Santa Barbara School District to create Harding University Partnership School (HUPS) – an International Baccalaureate Elementary School. This partnership illustrates the faculty’s commitment to being locally responsive while pursuing research questions of global import. HUPS’ 600 plus students, teachers, and leadership are true partners in framing and reframing the burning questions of the 21st century as we create high performance learning environments that support all students to excel in academic, social, behavioral, and emotional spheres.

The Gevirtz School’s regional impact is accelerated through several important partnerships, such as the Santa Barbara County P-20 STEM Council. The Council’s 50 community leader members keep a laser focus on pre-kindergarten to graduate education learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. University experts and community directors of science-rich educational institutes have banded together to strategically meet needs identified by school districts implementing the new language, mathematics, and science standards throughout the State of California.

Faculty members and Gevirtz alumni are influential in policy discussions and decisions in the state and nation. Work on preventing dropouts, determining the effects of immigration on learning and mental health, and increasing access to higher education among underrepresented, low income groups are just a few examples of critical policy research we are accomplishing.

The School’s vision goes global with an ever-increasing international reach. Current faculty members have on-going or recently completed projects in 90 countries, reflecting a Gevirtz School presence on every continent. Of special note is our work around the Pacific Rim in applied psychology and special education, risk, and disability studies. We host at least 30 international scholars each year who come to study with our faculty and our enrollment comprises about 10% international students.

If you are a prospective student you might choose the Gevirtz School for graduate study if you seek close mentoring relationships with distinguished faculty who are globally connected in cutting-edge research areas. Our teacher education program has been recognized as a state and national model. Our combined counseling, clinical, and school psychology doctoral program is unique in the nation. Our Education Department is internationally known for its faculty experts in research methods that include advanced quantitative approaches and sophisticated qualitative/ethnographic strategies.  Students who want to be leaders in educational and psychological research, practice, and public engagement will find a high expectation and nurturing environment in the School.

If you are a prospective faculty member you will realize that the University of California System is a career-enhancing place to pursue important questions, work with gifted students, and make a difference in the world. It is arguably the finest higher education system in the world.

If you are thinking of donating your time, talents, and/or treasure to the Gevirtz School, you will find that faculty and students are doing work that generates knowledge, advances teaching, learning, and mental health, and influences educational practice and public policy. Your investments in the School will be multiplied many times over by the lives changed through our findings and our interventions.

Our vision is that the Gevirtz School is a place where ideas grow and mature, where the best minds enter into spirited dialogues in the service of science, where imagination and creativity are valued, and where research and practice interact to produce innovation and inspiration.

Dean Jane Close Conoley
Gevirtz Graduate School of Education
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9490

(805) 893-2238
jane-conoley@education.ucsb.edu