Carol Mullen to lead School of Education
Carol A. Mullen has been named the director of the School of Education at Virginia Tech and associate dean for professional education in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.
Mullen, who begins her new position on July 1, is a professor of educational leadership and her research and teaching interests include mentoring theory and practice, diversity in educational contexts, and applied scholarly writing.
The last five years, Mullen served as chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. During her time there, Mullen worked with faculty to foster outreach identity and an international presence, to secure prominence in educational leadership and cultural foundations, to experiment with online innovations in curriculum development and delivery, and to create a strong mentoring culture of support for faculty and students that capitalizes on learning technologies.
“After an extensive national search, we are pleased that Carol Mullen has accepted our offer to lead our School of Education,” said Sue Ott Rowlands, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. “We were extremely impressed with her leadership experience, exceptional credentials, and general can-do attitude!”
Mullen’s governance work in the realm of administrative leadership, international relations, and human rights includes her new role as the Kappa Delta Pi representative to the United Nations on behalf of the U.N.’s Department of Public Information. She is currently president of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration as well as the University Council for Educational Administration plenary session representative.
Mullen specializes in mentoring innovations and democratic approaches to professional development in education across university and K–12 settings. She mentors graduate students and new professionals, collaborating with a wide variety of scholars and practitioners.
From 2002 to 2010, she was the editor of the Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning journal (Routledge/Taylor & Francis). She has written more than 200 peer-reivewed journal articles and book chapters, 15 special issues of journals, and 16 books. Recent books include the coedited volume “The SAGE Handbook of Mentoring and Coaching in Education” (Sage, 2012); the coauthored book “Educational Leadership at 2050: Conjectures, Challenges, and Promises” (Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2012); and, as single author, “From Student to Professor: Translating a Graduate Degree into a Career in Academia” (R&L Education, 2012).
Mullen received the American Educational Research Association’s award for her book “Breaking the Circle of One.” She has also earned the university presidential award for faculty excellence, a women’s leadership award, and several doctoral mentoring and teaching awards. She has founded and coordinated numerous mentoring and writing networks and programs for professional associations and universities.
Mullen earned her master’s degree and doctorate degree from The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. She received her bachelor’s degree from York University.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
