Elizabeth B. Moje, associate dean for research and community education, has been appointed dean of the University of Michigan School of Education.
Her appointment, approved Thursday by the Board of Regents, is effective March 1, and runs through June 30, 2022.
Moje has served as interim dean since July 2016. She replaces Deborah Loewenberg Ball, who stepped down after a decade of service.
Moje also is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and the George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor of Education.
“Elizabeth brings deep knowledge, keen insights, and tremendous energy to her research, teaching, and administrative responsibilities,” said Interim Provost and Executive Vice President Paul N. Courant.
“She has been a strong and effective interim dean, supporting and strengthening the critical work of the school. Under her leadership, the school has made important contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion in education by developing new programs, expanding outreach activities, and increasing engaged scholarship. All of this augurs well for her deanship.”
Moje joined the university in 1997 as an assistant professor. She was promoted to associate professor in 2001 and to professor in 2009. In 2010, she was appointed to a three-year term as the associate dean for research in SOE.
In 2012, she served as the acting dean and became the associate dean for research and community engagement in 2013.
As associate dean, Moje was responsible for developing the research infrastructure at the school, including providing support for grant writing, developing mechanisms for sharing costs of common resources, facilitating coordination across research fields, and engaging the campus and local communities in education research and development projects.
In 2015, she launched the Center for Education Design, Evaluation and Research to advance research and design projects to better serve both of these communities.
“I look forward to working with my colleagues to continue to advance the School of Education as an international leader in education research and in the preparation of education practitioners and researchers,” Moje said. “Serving as dean is a joy when working with such stellar faculty, expert staff and gifted students.”
Moje teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in secondary and adolescent literacy, literacy and cultural theory, and qualitative and mixed research methods.
Her research focuses on youth and their teachers in communities and schools in Detroit. In that work, she studies the intersection between the disciplinary literacies of school and the literacy practices of youth outside of school. She also leads literacy professional development with teachers in Detroit and around the country.
In particular, she studies how youth make culture and enact identities from their homes and community literacies, and from ethnic cultures, popular cultures and school cultures. She also focuses on the development of teaching interns at U-M.
She currently chairs the National Academy of Education’s Professional Development Committee and the William T. Grant Foundation’s Scholar Selection committee. She also serves as the vice president representing a division of the American Education Research Association.
Moje earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia College, her Master of Arts degree from Eastern Michigan University and her doctorate from Purdue University.
