Joan DeJaeghere named interim chair of OLPD

Joan DeJaeghere has been named interim chair of the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development (OLPD) in the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD). As chair, she will oversee the administration of the department as well as guide the development of OLPD programs, initiatives, policies, and goals. Her first day in the role will be July 9, 2024.

The associate chair of the department will remain Professor of Higher Education Andrew Furco. Professor of Comparative and International Development Education Bhaskar Upadhyay will serve as director of graduate studies. 

“I am particularly happy to have Joan join the academic leadership team of the college, as she brings deep knowledge and experience from multiple perspectives, including the multiple roles she has held in the college and apropos arenas of scholarship,” said CEHD Dean Michael C. Rodriguez. 

DeJaeghere holds a BA in international relations and Spanish from Drake University and an MA in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota. She is an alum of OLPD; she received her PhD in educational policy and administration through its comparative and international development education (CIDE) program. She began her tenure-track appointment in CEHD in 2007 and was promoted to full professor in 2017. 

DeJaeghere has more than 25 years of scholarship and practice in comparative and international education. Her scholarship is concerned with gender and ethnic/racial inequalities in formal and nonformal education and how they affect youth’s future civic engagement, livelihoods, and wellbeing.

At the university, she is a long-term affiliated faculty of the Interdisciplinary Center for Global Change (ICGC), the Human Rights Program, and the Masters of Development Practice. She has served on the CEHD promotion and tenure committee and most recently on the University Academic Freedom and Tenure Taskforce on Term Appointments and Academic Freedom. 

DeJaeghere is a recipient of the CEHD’s Women’s Philanthropic Circle Leadership Award, a CEHD Excellence in Research Award, and a UMN Global Programs and Strategy Alliance Global Engagement Award, among many other honors. She was also a Fulbright Scholar in Vietnam (2013), and recently a visiting honorary fellow at the University of Melbourne and at Christ University, India (2023). She has previously served on the Board of the Comparative and International Education Society, and is an active member of the Human Development and Capability Association. She currently serves as an International Working Group member for Education.org, an organization committed to ensuring educational evidence is used by leaders.

“I am honored to serve as the next OLPD chair and to do my best to support my colleagues, our undergraduate and graduate students, and the work of the College of Education and Human Development,” DeJaeghere says. “I look forward to advancing the outstanding work we do as a department locally, nationally, and globally in leadership of schools and higher education institutions, in organizational and human resource development, in evaluation, and in comparative and international education.”