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Australian scholar named dean of College of Education at Illinois
Craig Chamberlain,
Education Editor
217-333-2894; cdchambe@uiuc.edu
5/3/2006
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CHAMPAIGN, Ill.
— Mary Kalantzis, a professor of education and former dean at
RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, has been named the new dean of
the College of Education at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, pending approval by the
U. of I. Board of Trustees at its May 11 meeting in Chicago.
Kalantzis [pronounced kuh-LAN-ziss], currently a chair of education
in the Research and Innovation Portfolio at RMIT, as well as a research
professor in the university’s Globalism Institute, will begin
her new duties on Aug. 1. She succeeds Susan Fowler, a professor of
special education, who is stepping down after six years as dean to return
to teaching.
“Mary Kalantzis has a remarkable record of accomplishment as a
scholar and is widely recognized as an international leader in the field
of education,” said Richard Herman, the chancellor of the Urbana
campus. “She engages national and international debate on educational
issues in a way that will bring recognition to scholars and practitioners
in our College of Education.
“She is passionate about the importance of quality education to
societal well-being and has particular strength in building the type
of interdisciplinary and external partnerships that will be critical
for the success of our strategic plan over the next five years. I have
full confidence in Mary’s ability to succeed as a leader in our
College of Education, on the campus, and beyond.”
Provost Linda P.B.
Katehi said: "I am highly pleased by our success in recruiting
Mary Kalantzis, an internationally recognized scholar in education,
to join our leadership team at the University of Illinois. The College
of Education is instrumental to our preeminence as an institution, and
Mary is ideally positioned to enhance our visibility and presence."
Kalantzis, a native of Greece, emigrated as a young child to Australia
with her family. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history and
linguistics in 1980 from Macquarie University in Sydney, and earned
her doctorate in 1991 from Macquarie’s School of History, Philosophy
and Politics.
Kalantzis also studied the teaching of English as a second language,
and has had teaching experience at every level, from kindergarten to
postgraduate studies.
From 1984 to 1993, she was a research fellow and then a senior research
fellow at the Centre for Multicultural Studies at the University of
Wollongong. From 1990 to 1997, she was the director of the Centre for
Workplace Communication and Culture, based first at the University of
Technology in Sydney.
In 1993, Kalantzis became a professor of education and director of the
Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies at James Cook University of North
Queensland in Townsville. From 1997 to 2003, she was the executive dean
of the Faculty of Education, Language and Community Services at RMIT
University. (“RMIT University" is the complete and official
name of the school and not an abbreviation.)
Kalantzis is internationally known for her research in the areas of
literacy and multicultural education, and in particular for her work
on a pedagogy of multiliteracies. She also has written on ethnicity,
gender, culture, workplace change, training and curriculum.
From 2000 to 2004, Kalantzis served as the president of the Australian
Council of Deans of Education, and then played a role in the development
of the National Institute for Quality Teaching and Leadership, a new
federal teacher accreditation agency.
Kalantzis said that she has numerous long-term connections with U.S.
academics and spent a year in the United States on a fellowship in the
early 1990s.
She said the U. of I. College of Education has many ties with Australia.
“Interestingly, the (U. of I.) college has been hugely influential
on Australian education,” she said, and many of Australia’s
educational leaders are alumni of the college.
In accepting the position, Kalantzis said she sees both opportunity
and challenge for the college.
“What we teach in universities in the discipline of education
and the way we teach is in a state of flux,” she said. But she
also sees a college that is “already world-renowned,” and
said she hopes to build on that influence.
