Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy will step down from her role of Dean of the School of Education next semester, Acting Provost and Chief Academic Officer Vicky M. Wilkins announced in an email Tuesday.
Holcomb-McCoy will lead the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education as president and chief executive officer starting on Jan. 6. Holcomb-McCoy will replace the current president and CEO of the organization, Lynn M. Gangone, who announced her plans to retire earlier this year.
Holcomb-McCoy joined American University in July 2016 following her time as vice provost for faculty affairs campus-wide and vice dean of academic affairs in the School of Education at Johns Hopkins University. Though no longer serving as dean, she will remain an SOE faculty member.
Under Holcomb-McCoy’s leadership, SOE became a stand-alone school in 2019. According to Wilkins, Holcomb-McCoy also “expanded the diversity of the school’s faculty, with over 50 percent of SOE faculty members identifying as faculty of color” and built partnerships with Teach for America, Friendship Charter Schools, City Year and City Teaching Alliance.
Holcomb-McCoy also advanced education programs within SOE, introducing the online Master’s in Teaching, Master’s and Doctorate in Education Policy and Leadership, Advancing Early Education Collaborative and the Child Development Associate certification.
Holcomb-McCoy expanded her work to the D.C. community through the Teacher Pipeline Project, which incorporates the Dual Enrollment and Teaching Fellows programs and has generated over one million dollars in scholarships for D.C. high school students. The Dual Enrollment program covers tuition, books, transportation and “enables DC high school seniors to attend AU and earn six college credits.”
According to Wilkins’ email, many of the students in the program are also first generation students and “are consistently representative of a majority-minority population.” The majority of the program’s students have gone on to attend four-year colleges.
The University plans to consult with SOE about the transition.
“We look forward to building on Cheryl’s impactful work and her commitment to educational excellence and equity,” Wilkins said in the email.
This article was edited by Tyler Davis and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks.
