Eboni M. Zamani-Gallaher, who came to Pitt in July 2022 as a professor and associate dean for equity, justice and strategic partnerships in the School of Education, has been named the new Renée and Richard Goldman Dean of the School of Education, effective immediately.
Zamani-Gallaher has served as interim dean since August 2023, after Valerie Kinloch, left to become president of her alma mater, Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C.
She came to Pitt from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Education, where she was a professor and spent seven years as director of the Office for Community College Research and Leadership. While there, she also worked as associate head of the Department of Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership, and as associate dean of the Graduate College.
Look for a full interview with Zamani-Gallaher about her priorities in the May 31 University Times.
Her research has secured nearly $10.5 million in funding from the National Science Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Lumina Foundation, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, among others. Zamani-Gallaher’s scholarship focuses on equitable participation in higher education; transfer, access and retention policies; minoritized student populations in marginalized institutional contexts; and racial equity and campus climate in postsecondary education pathways.
In addition to her work at Pitt, she is actively involved with a variety of professional organizations. She is currently executive director of the Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC), president-elect of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, a member of the Community College Review Editorial Board, an advisory board member for the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, and a committee member with the Black Learner Excellence Expert Advisory Committee.
Zamani-Gallaher has earned numerous notable recognitions, including being named an American College Personnel Association Senior Scholar, and is an American Educational Research Association Fellow. She holds a Ph.D. in educational organization and leadership from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an MS in general experimental psychology and BS in psychology from Western Illinois University.
The education dean search committee was co-chaired by Vice Provost Lu-in Wang and Dean of the School of Social Work Betsy Farmer.