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Greetings from the Chair

Welcome to the Department of Education Studies (EDS) at the University of California, San Diego!

The Department of Education Studies is guided by a mission that includes:

  • Engaging in rigorous inquiry into pressing educational issues of the 21st Century;
  • Training educators to use research to inform practice;
  • Supporting equity and diversity in educational institutions;
  • Providing excellent teaching and mentorship to our students.

Our students, staff, and faculty believe in transforming education in a diverse society where all students, particularly in diverse and underserved communities, will thrive and reach their fullest potential.

In 1972, four faculty started the Teacher Education Program (later renamed Department of Education Studies) with the mission to provide state-of-the-art teacher training, recognizing the pivotal role of teachers as levers in educational settings. Over time, they established close ties with area school districts and served as the training ground for meaningful and innovative research-practice endeavors to improve educational excellence, opportunity, and access.

Our Department has since grown both in size and in reputation, yet our commitment to educational excellence, equity, diversity, and inclusion remain unchanged. We now have 30+ faculty and affiliated researchers examining a broad array of educational issues, plus annual enrollments of 150+ graduate students and 250+ undergraduate students minoring in Education. Currently, we are developing an undergraduate major that will serve students' growing interest in the field of education.

We thrive on collaborative research and practices in multiple areas with local, national, and global reach, including innovative learning strategies for diverse student populations, early childhood education, STEM/world languages/bilingual teaching and learning, special education, social networks and social capital, organizational and systemic reform, school-university-community partnerships, strengthening educational pipelines, and much more.

EDS students and graduates inform and strengthen our collective mission, and include:

  • 200+ P-16 educational leaders and 400+ teacher leaders throughout Southern California and beyond
  • 9+ current and former superintendents in area districts
  • 75+ pre-service teachers awarded Noyce Teacher Scholarships designed to encourage talented Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) teachers who are committed to providing exemplary STEM education in high need schools
  • 500+ undergraduate students volunteering 20,000 hours annually in underserved schools and communities throughout San Diego through our Partners at Learning (PAL) program, the largest service-learning program at UC San Diego

The Education Studies Department maintains close partnerships with numerous entities at UC San Diego, including the Center for Research on Educational Equity, Assessment, and Teaching Excellence (CREATE), CalTeach, OASIS, CASP, Center on Gender Equity and Health, and numerous academic departments.  

We are increasing our global sphere of influence with visiting scholars from around the world, as well as with our Teacher Exchange Program with Blanquerna School of Education, Ramon Llull University.

We host multiple seminars and events that we hope you will attend, including a Brown Bag Series on Educational Equity and the annual EDS CREATE Teaching & Learning conference.

Please join us! Whether you are a prospective or current student, colleague, cherished alumni or a dear friend, we look forward to partnering with you and continuing our mission to ‘transform education in a diverse society.’

Sincerely,

Christopher Halter

Chair, Department of Education Studies