On behalf of the faculty, staff, and students of the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education (GGSE), I welcome you to our website. I hope that you will spend some time exploring it to learn about our outstanding faculty, students, and staff and to learn more about UC Santa Barbara—one of only 62 universities in the elite American Association of Universities (AAU) and one of the few AAU institutions that is designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI).

GGSE is a hub of educational innovation with world-class research produced by our distinguished faculty and exceptional graduate students who are doing leading-edge work in research methods, science and mathematics education, literacy education, second language learning, culture and language, educational policy, autism, school safety, positive psychology, resilience and recovery from trauma, and strengths-based interventions with vulnerable populations. . . and this is only a partial list of the excellent work that we do at the Gevirtz School.

GGSE hosts three clinics—in autism, mental health, and reading and language arts—that provide research, teaching, and service for the campus and local communities. We are also home to several research centers that bring together faculty and students from across the School and University to explore important questions in educational and psychological science. For example, the International Center for School-Based Youth Development investigates critical questions that range from academic readiness for kindergarten to strategies to prevent young Latino males from joining antisocial gangs. The South Coast Writing Project (SCWriP) was one of four California sites to share a $1.48 million IES grant providing professional development for teachers to create a pathway to academic success for secondary English learners. And the Koegel Autism Center has developed Pivotal Response Treatment®, one of the few intervention methods for autism that is both comprehensive (as listed by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences) and empirically supported.

The School has an ever-increasing international reach. Current faculty members have on-going or recently completed projects in 90 countries, reflecting the presence of GGSE across the globe. We also host approximately 30 international scholars each year who come to study with us and enrich the Gevirtz community of scholars.

Some of our finest accomplishments are achieved with the philanthropic support of foundations and individual donors including alumni, faculty, staff, parents, and members of our local education community. For example, we house the McEnroe Reading and Language Arts Clinic – the only research-based reading clinic in Central California – which was seeded by a generous alumna with a vision to help school-aged children. We plan to recruit a new faculty member to fill the Michael M. Gerber Chair in Instructional Innovation and Technology for Exceptional Children, which was made possible by a $2M pledge to endow the position in perpetuity. 

I invite you to get involved with the Gevirtz School and join our faculty, staff, and students in work that generates knowledge, advances teaching, learning, and mental health, and informs and improves educational practice and public policy.

Jeffrey F. Milem

Professor and Jules Zimmer Dean's Chair

Gevirtz Graduate School of Education
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9490

(805) 893-2238
dean@education.ucsb.edu

Emeritus Deans Of The Gevirtz School

Previous Deans

Jane Conoley

Jane Conoley

Dean, 2006-2014, except January-August 2013, Interim Chancellor UC Riverside
Jules Zimmer

Jules Zimmer

Dean, 1993-2004
Rich Shavelson

Rich Shavelson

Dean, 1987-1993
Norman Boyan

Norman Boyan

Dean, 1969-1980
R. Murray Thomas

R. Murray Thomas

Dean, 1964-1969