Virginia Roach

Dr. Virginia Roach was appointed the Dean of the Graduate School  of Education in 2011. During her first year, Virginia launched an extensive “listening tour” of faculty, staff, and alumni to learn about the strengths and talents of the community as well as potential areas for growth and development. Based on this input, she is excited about the work underway to expand course offerings in off campus settings, support online learning, international capacity development for progressive education, and new conceptions for developing teachers and leaders to work in the diverse classrooms, schools, and other educational settings of today.

Her research focuses on state policy related to developing education leaders (for which she won the 2012 William J. Davis Award for outstanding scholarship) and the development of women in higher levels of educational leadership domestically and abroad. In addition to her research activities and  serving as Dean of the Graduate School, Virginia is on the Board of the International Society of Educational Planning and serves as the editor of its journal, Educational Planning.

Virginia worked at Bank Street from 2002-2004 as the Project Director of the Teachers for a New Era Project. Prior to joining Bank Street the second time around, she was an Associate Professor of Educational Administration and Policy in the Department of Educational Leadership of George Washington University, in Washington, DC. There she served as department chair from 2006-2009, taught master’s and doctoral-level courses, and chaired dissertations.

From 1986 to 2002 Virginia worked at the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE), serving as the Deputy Executive Director from 1994-2002. At NASBE she worked on several foundation-and government-funded grants as well as provided technical assistance to state boards of education, state departments of education, local districts and federal agencies. She began her career as a special education teacher and was awarded an EdD in Educational Administration and Policy from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1992.