Dear Members of the TC Community,

I am writing with bittersweet news. Stephanie Rowley, our Provost, Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs, has accepted an appointment as Dean of the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia—her alma mater—effective July 1, 2022. UVA will announce her appointment at 10 am this morning.

Stephanie joined Teachers College on July 1, 2019, and during her tenure has played a critical role in accelerating our efforts to refine our organizational design and structure to empower students, faculty, staff, alumni, partners and external constituents. Among her many accomplishments here, Stephanie has led significant progress around our strategic priorities, working to optimize our academic programs and reduce the administrative burden on faculty, bolstering student services to ensure our students have an outstanding academic experience and increasing research funding to amplify TC’s influence on policy and practice and grow the available financial support for our graduate students. She appointed TC’s first Vice Dean for Research, Carol Hammer, and has worked with her to strengthen and streamline our research infrastructure such that we have seen a 15 percent increase in federal and state grant submissions and an increase in funded research.

Stephanie has also renewed our focus on teacher education and the cultivation of strong partnerships with local and state schools with the naming of a new Vice Dean for Teacher Education, and her passion for social justice has been instrumental in advancing our strategic priority to institutionalize diversity, equity and inclusion. She led the implementation of an inclusive process to reduce bias in faculty searches and added a target of opportunity search process focused on recruiting faculty whose work supports the diversity mission of the College. As a result of these efforts, nearly two-thirds of incoming new faculty are people of color.

Above all, Stephanie has always been committed to the people who make TC what it is: our faculty, students and staff. She placed a sharp focus on equity, transparency and inclusiveness in College policies and practices and stressed the importance of mentoring and coaching for both students and staff, exemplified in a recognition and development group she established for nearly forty staff leaders.

It has been an honor to partner with Stephanie these past three years as we have charted the future of Teachers College. I have been continually moved by her unwavering focus on fostering a community in which everyone is valued and respected. All of us have benefited from her commitment to our mission and the insight and energy she has brought to the imperative of continuously improving as an institution so we can meet the challenges and opportunities before us.

While her departure is a loss, Stephanie leaves TC a stronger institution. We will continue to build on the great work she has done here and I know her legacy will continue to reverberate.

Before Memorial Day, we will share our plans for the transition period while we conduct the search for Stephanie’s replacement. In the meantime, please join me in congratulating Stephanie and wishing her well in the next chapter of her career.

Warmly,

Thomas Bailey
President, Teachers College