Tomiko Brown-Nagin has been appointed dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Education in California. Dr. Brown-Nagin comes to Stanford University following eight years of service as dean of Harvard Radcliffe Institute. She has also served in leadership roles with Harvard Law School, including faculty director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute and co-director of the program of study in law and history. Her research examines the legal and political struggles to expand educational opportunity and equity, with a focus on the civil rights era. She is the author of two books: Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality (Pantheon, 2022) and Courage to Dissent: Atlanta and the Long History of the Civil Rights Movement (Oxford University Press, 2011).
“What excites me about the work of the faculty and students at the GSE is the way the school spans the humanities, the social sciences, the sciences, and so many other fields. That breadth of inquiry is precisely how I think about knowledge creation and production in relation to law and policy,” said Dr. Brown-Nagin. “To problem-solve, one needs a variety of cross-cutting expertise. I’m just thrilled to be a part of this community where that is the default way of working.”
A first-generation college student, Dr. Brown-Nagin is a summa cum laude graduate of Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. She holds a law degree from Yale Law School and a doctorate in history from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
Gerrelyn Patterson is dean of the College of Education at Virginia State University. Dr. Patterson comes to her new appointment with more than 25 years of experience in P-12 and higher education. She most recently served as chair of the department of educator preparation at North Carolina A&T State University. Her scholarship centers on school desegregation and preparing culturally responsive teachers.
“I am honored to join Virginia State University and look forward to working with the outstanding faculty, staff, students, alumni, and partners of the College of Education,” said Dr. Patterson. “Together, we will build on a proud legacy while embracing innovation and empowering future education leaders who will help greater happen in schools and communities across the Commonwealth and the nation.”
Dr. Patterson is a graduate of North Carolina Central University, where she majored in English literature. She holds a master’s degree in English education from the University of Virginia and a Ph.D. in curriculum, culture, and change from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Julie A. Washington was promoted from interim dean to permanent dean of the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine. A member of the UC Irvine faculty since 2021, Dr. Washington previously served as chair of the department of communication sciences and disorders at Georgia State University and chair of the department of communicative disorders at the University of Wisconsin. She has also been a faculty member at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University in Detroit. As a speech language pathologist, she focuses her research on the intersection of literacy, language variation, and poverty.
“Education has the power to transform lives and strengthen communities,” said Dr. Washington. “The UC Irvine School of Education is advancing new knowledge about how people learn and translating that knowledge into meaningful impact. I’m honored to lead this exceptional community of faculty, staff and students as we work together to expand opportunity and shape the future of education.”
Dr. Washington is a graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, where she majored in English. She holds a master’s degree in speech and language pathology and a Ph.D. in education with a concentration in speech and language pathology from the University of Michigan.
