As Penn’s education dean prepares to leave, a record gift and No. 1 ranking are among accomplishments

Before Pam Grossman became dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, it ranked No. 7 in U.S. News and World Report.

This year, for the first time, it alone holds the No. 1 spot. Last year, the school ranked first, too, but shared the top spot with Harvard.

It’s one of many distinctions that Grossman is proud of as she prepares to leave the post in June. The school this week received the largest gift in its history, $16.2 million from the Harold W. McGraw Jr. Family Foundation, named for the former chairman and CEO of McGraw-Hill, the educational publishing and financial services company.

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Grossman said the school will use the funds to establish a center for educational leadership where the next generation of strong educators, including presidents, superintendents, principals and chief learning officers, will be cultivated. A portion also will be used to continue to administer the McGraw prizes, which recognize outstanding and innovative educational leaders with $50,000 awards.

The McGraw prizes in education were moved to Penn from Arizona State University in 2020. The latest round of winners were awarded at a dinner in New York City Thursday night.

They include former Philadelphia School District chief academic officer Cheryl Logan, who became superintendent of Omaha Public Schools in 2018. She was selected for her strong leadership during the pandemic, when she got technology into the hands of students for remote learning and re-opened classrooms for in-person learning early on with the use of saliva tests.

“She had children back in school long before we did in Philadelphia,” former Philadelphia School District Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said in a video tribute to Logan. “We called her often to understand what steps she took in order to do that.”

Also recognized were Roy Pea, professor of education and learning sciences at Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, for his research on how people learn, and Barry Dunn, president of South Dakota State University, who has worked to give Native American students better access to higher education and improve their experience on campus.

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Grossman said she’s proud of what the school has accomplished in what will be eight-and-a-half years of her leadership. She has hired roughly 50% of the now 40-member faculty during her tenure. Nearly half of the faculty now are people of color, one-third from underrepresented groups, she said.

The school, which has doubled in size over the last two decades and now has more than 1,600 students, also is building a $35.6 million addition that will allow it to offer more classes on site. It’s set to open in August. The school also helped the country of Kazakhstan launch its first graduate school of education, she said.

Many people don’t realize that Penn’s education school does more than educate teachers and principals, she said. It also has programs for mid-career professionals who aspire to top leadership posts — like Logan — and college presidents, including Mark C. Reed, who recently left St Joseph’s University for Loyola University Chicago. It’s graduated more than 60 current and former college presidents. There’s a program for those leading medical education programs and another for chief learning officers of companies. Candace Thille, the head of learning science for Amazon, is a graduate of the school.

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Another program focuses on educational entrepreneurs; an anesthesiologist from London is among its current students.

The new center, Grossman said, will serve as a hub for students and alumni of all the programs to interact.

“We need to be learning across these boundaries,” she said.

Grossman, 68, who taught high school English early in her career, and before Penn was an education professor at Stanford, said the time was right to step down. She’s one of two Penn deans who plan to leave next June. Also departing is Ted Ruger, dean of the law school.

She’s not sure what comes next, but has a year’s leave to decide whether she wants to remain on the faculty or pursue another opportunity.

“I feel a sense of great satisfaction,” Grossman said. “I feel it’s good not to stay too long. Higher education benefits from changes in leadership. And it’s always good to leave on a high note.”