UNC School of Education Dean Fouad Abd-El-Khalick has been named provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, effective July 1, Provost Christopher Clemens announced in a campus-wide email Thursday.
An interim dean of the school will be announced in the coming weeks and a search will be launched for a new dean, Clemens said in the message.
"I am enormously grateful to Fouad and all that he has accomplished," Clemens said. "When he leaves Carolina at the end of June, the school will be well poised for continued success."
Abd-El-Khalick served as the school's dean since 2016 and is also a distinguished professor of education. During his tenure as dean, the school saw a 26 percent increase in residential student enrollment.
In a statement, Abd-El-Khalick said his eight years as dean have been a highlight of his career.
"We have achieved much as a community of faculty, students, staff and alumni — in partnership with leaders at Carolina and in school districts and with our state officials — to better serve learners and educators in our rural and urban communities across North Carolina and beyond," he said.
Recently, Abd-El-Khalick oversaw the creation of the school's first fully online doctoral degree program. He also led the development of several new programs, including the 2022 creation of the Carolina Community Academy, a laboratory school that integrates social-emotional learning for students in kindergarten through second grade. In 2017, he launched the online teacher licensure program Pathway to Practice NC in partnership with NC State University, which aims to increase the number of educators in the state.
"I am grateful for all the support and kindness that the Carolina community and the state have shown our family over these years," Abd-El-Khalick said. "We will always have a special place in our hearts and minds for the people and place that is Carolina.”
