Lee named dean of UB Graduate School of Education

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Jaekyung Lee, professor of counseling, school and educational psychology at the University at Buffalo, and a fellow of the prestigious American Educational Research Association (AERA), has been appointed dean of the UB Graduate School of Education after a national search. He had served as interim dean since July 2012.

Lee’s appointment, which is effective immediately, was announced June 10 by Charles F. Zukoski, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.

He succeeds Mary H. Gresham, who stepped down as dean to become vice provost for educational collaboration and engagement.

In announcing his appointment, Zukoski noted that Lee will lead the Graduate School of Education as it pursues an ambitious vision for advancing its national and international prominence in research, graduate education and educational policy.  “Dr. Lee’s scholarship and administrative skills make him an outstanding choice to lead the Graduate School of Education,” he added.

President Satish K. Tripathi also praised Lee, noting he has the ideal qualities to be the permanent dean of GSE.

“As an internationally distinguished scholar who is an established authority in his field, we are very pleased to have Dr. Lee at the helm to lead the Graduate School of Education to even greater heights of excellence and impact regionally, nationally and globally,” Tripathi said. “I very much appreciate the leadership, insight and expertise he has demonstrated as interim dean, and look forward to his continued contributions to advancing our university's vision of excellence as GSE builds on its legacy of leadership in research, education and policy development.”

As interim dean and in his previous appointment as associate dean for academic affairs, Lee led significant efforts to enhance departmental collaborations across the school, as well as expanding GSE’s interdisciplinary partnerships with units across the university. 

“The search committee recognized Dr. Lee as an accomplished scholar and colleague of great integrity who has a vision to advance GSE on all levels,” said Robert Shibley, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning and chair of the GSE dean search committee.

An internationally recognized leader in education policy, educational equity, and international and comparative education, Lee joined the UB faculty in 2002 after serving as an assistant professor in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Maine. He was promoted to associate professor in 2006 and full professor in 2010, and assumed the role of associate dean for academic affairs in 2011.

His primary professional and research interests focus on addressing pressing social issues in the areas of educational accountability and equity, high-stakes testing and educational achievement gaps. His work in these areas has been cited by many, including the National Research Council’s 2011 report “Incentives and Test-Based Accountability in Education.”

Lee’s research, which has been supported by grants from the AERA, the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation, has been published in numerous scholarly journals. He also is the author of the book “The Testing Gap: Scientific Trials of Test-Driven School Accountability Systems for Excellence and Equity.”

He currently sits on a number of editorial boards of academic journals, including the Education Policy Analysis Archives, KEDI (Korean Educational Development Institute) Journal of Education Policy, the Journal of Research in Rural Education and Educational Research International. He served as an associate editor of the American Educational Research Journal from 2008-11.

In addition to being an AERA fellow, Lee also is a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado-Boulder. He is the recipient of the 2007 AERA Early Career Award.

He earned a BA and MA from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, and a PhD from the University of Chicago.