Dean Jane Bray sent the following message to the Darden College of Education & Professional Studies faculty and staff community on August 24, 2018. - Ed.

Dear Faculty and Staff:

I hope everyone had a most relaxing summer! As we welcome back new and returning Monarchs to campus, there is so much excitement everywhere. We continue to achieve our shared mission of advancing our communities through research, teaching, and service activities that reflect our commitment to inclusion, excellence, innovation and transformation.

For those of you who may not have been able to attend the State of the College Address and Name Unveiling on Friday, I am thrilled to share that we now have a new name: Darden College of Education and Professional Studies. This name change is a culmination of work done on our strategic plan in which we all felt that it was important to have a name that reflects what makes us so strong - the diversity of our academic program offerings. We currently offer 13 undergraduate programs, 60 graduate programs and 13 professional certificates. Out of those 84 programs, 50% are in education and the remaining 50% are in a variety of different disciplines. If you have a chance, I invite you to read a story written by the University Relations Office about last week's historic event. We made history for the college!

As mentioned in my State of the College Address, big things are happening around the college because of the hard work and dedication of our amazing faculty. Your teaching, research and service is leaving a lasting impact on our students and is setting the path for our future. I would like to take the opportunity to recognize four faculty members who received promotion to associate professor with tenure and two faculty who achieved the highest professional rank of professor. Should you see these colleagues around, please do take a moment to share your congratulations for their well-deserved honor:

  • Dr. Jamie Colwell, Department of Teaching & Learning, was promoted and tenured
  • Dr. Helen Crompton, Department of Teaching & Learning, was promoted and tenured
  • Dr. Christopher Glass, Department of Educational Foundations and Leadership, was promoted and tenured
  • Dr. Petros Katsioloudis, Chair of the Department of STEM Education and Professional Studies was promoted to the rank of professor
  • Dr. Lamar Reams, Department of Human Movement Sciences, was promoted and tenured
  • Dr. Lynn Ridinger, Chair of the Department of Human Movement Sciences was promoted to the rank of professor

The Darden College of Education and Professional Studies is full of history and innovation, a leader at the University in grant expenditures, and we are growing momentum into 2019. Your excellence and commitment continue to lead us forward as we produce big results for Old Dominion University.

I wish everyone a great fall semester and a successful start of the academic year!

Warmest regards,

Jane S. Bray
Dean for the Darden College of Education and Professional Studies