Hunter Gehlbach, associate professor and associate dean for academics and faculty development at the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education of the University of California, Santa Barbara, has been named vice dean of academic affairs and research professor for the Johns Hopkins School of Education.
Gehlbach, who describes himself as “an educational psychologist by training, a social psychologist at heart,” has research interests ranging from adolescence to environmental education. Primarily, he aims to bolster the social perspective-taking capacities of teachers and students—how they understand each other’s thoughts and feelings—to improve teacher-student relationships.
Through projects funded by Survey Monkey and Panorama Education, he also has explored how schools might use surveys to improve teacher and student outcomes. He has written about his substantive and methodological interests for outlets ranging from Journal of Educational Psychology to The Huffington Post.
A former high school social studies teacher and coach, Gehlbach holds master’s degrees from the University of Massachusetts–Amherst (MEd in school counseling) and Stanford University (MA in social psychology). He earned his PhD in educational psychology from Stanford and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Connecticut. In 2016, he received a Midcareer Grant from the Spencer Foundation.
“Hunter is a talented scholar and leader, and will be a great addition to our leadership team,” said School of Education Dean Christopher C. Morphew in announcing the appointment.
Gehlbach will assume the duties of vice dean on July 1, 2019. He will take over the role from Vice Dean Mariale Hardiman, who has served in the role for five years as well as two stints as the school’s interim dean.
“Since August of 2017, when I transitioned into the role of dean, Mariale Hardiman has been an exceptional part of my leadership team,” said Morphew. “She has always put the school’s needs first and earned the trust and respect of her peers. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner during my first two years in this role.”
Hardiman will returns to her ongoing research in Brain-Targeted Teaching and leading the Neuro-Education Initiative, work the dean described as “an important part of the School of Education’s future strategy.”
