Welcome Dr. Gerardo Lopez as the new chair of Educational Leadership & Policy
Gerardo R. López is Professor and Chair of the Department of Educational Leadership
and Policy at the University of Utah. His research interests are in parent involvement,
school-community relations, immigrant education, and issues of diversity/difference
within educational policy. Prior to arriving in Utah, he served on the faculty at
University of Missouri-Columbia, Indiana University, and Loyola University-New Orleans.
His work has been published in Educational Administration Quarterly, Harvard Educational
Review, American Educational Research Journal, Educational Researcher, and the Journal
of Qualitative Studies in Education among other scholarly outlets. In 2014, he was
a co-recipient of the UCEA/AERA William J. Davis Award-- given annually to the author(s)
of the most outstanding article published in Educational Administration Quarterly
during a particular year. In addition to his scholarly record, Dr. Lopez has an excellent
record of local and national service, having served on the Executive Committee of
the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA), as well as numerous
ad-hoc committees within the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and
the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE). He has also served
as an expert witness in federal civil rights cases involving English Language Learners
and newcomer/undocumented Latino students.
Dr. Lopez is excited and humbled to serve as chair of the ELP department, and hopes to work closely with local and state educators and policymakers on ways to improve education for students and parents in schools.