Robert Floden at Michigan State University Becomes AACTE Board Chair

(February 26, 2021, Washington, D.C.) – The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) announced today Robert E. Floden, Ph.D. of Michigan State University (MI) as the new chair of its Board of Directors. During his one-year term, Floden will support AACTE and its President and CEO Lynn M. Gangone in implementing the Association’s strategic goals, incorporating lessons learned from the pandemic to advance educator preparation and policies, and growing AACTE’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

“Our key priority now is clearly recovering from the pandemic. Face-to-face instruction is an important part of education. We can draw upon what we have learned about the ways in which we make good use of remote instruction and other important lessons,” said Floden. “I think teacher education programs in general made the pivot well, although it was challenging in the first months. But we learned how to continue to provide solid preparation for educators, and I think we can harvest what we have learned and use that as we move forward in the fall of 2021.”

Floden has served more than 40 years as a faculty member in the Michigan State University College of Education, where he has a strong history of leadership, having served as director of research centers, associate dean for research, and twice as acting dean. He is currently the dean, a role he has held since January 2016. Floden is a distinguished leader in several fields, including teacher education, educational psychology, educational policy, mathematics education, and measurement and quantitative methods. He has played key roles in maintaining the college’s #1 nationwide ranking in elementary and secondary education for 25 consecutive years (U.S. News & World Report) and recently led the college to a #1 international ranking in education (Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects).

Floden holds degrees from Princeton and Stanford Universities and is recognized as a pre-eminent scholar in the areas of teaching, teacher education, and linking policy to classroom practice. He has helmed various editorial boards, including the Journal of Teacher Education, Educational Researcher, and Review of Research in Education. Floden’s work has been published in the Handbook of Research on Teaching, the Handbook of Research on Teacher Education, the Handbook of Research on Mathematics Teaching and Learning, and in many journals and books.

Floden has been elected to and currently serves in several national leadership capacities, including secretary-treasurer of the National Academy of Education. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) and the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). In addition, Floden is a fellow of the American Psychological Association’s Division 15 (Educational Psychology) and a long-time member of the American Educational Research Association. Previously, he held roles as president of the Philosophy of Education Society and longstanding chair of the National Academy of Education’s Research Advisory Committee. His awards include an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship, selection as a Fulbright specialist, and the Margaret B. Lindsey Award for Distinguished Research in Teacher Education.

The AACTE Board of Directors includes 25 representatives of AACTE member institutions from around the country. Learn more about the new AACTE Board Chair Robert Floden in this video blog. For more information, visit www.aacte.org.

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AACTE: The Leading Voice on Educator Preparation

The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education is a national alliance of educator preparation programs and partners dedicated to high-quality, evidence-based preparation that assures educators are profession-ready as they enter the classroom. The 700 member institutions include public and private colleges and universities in every state, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands and Guam. Through advocacy and capacity building, AACTE promotes innovation and effective practices that strengthen educator preparation. Learn more at www.aacte.org.