Robert Michael

Dean of the School of Education

Robert Michael has served as Dean of the School of Education at the State University of New York at New Paltz since 1997. Michael is responsible for overseeing four academic departments that make up the School of Education: Educational Administration, Educational Studies, Secondary Education and Elementary Education. He also oversees the Center for Academic Development and Learning, and the Migrant Education Center.

The School of Education has an enrollment of almost 1,700 students. There are 38 full-time faculty and 129 part-time faculty currently teaching at the School of Education. Michael also supervises six professional staff members and nine classified staff members.

Under Michael’s leadership, the School of Education obtained national accreditation through the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, a professional accrediting organization for schools, colleges and departments of education in the United States. New York State Certification exam test scores for SUNY New Paltz students have risen during his tenure as dean. The School of Education has forged strong working relationships with area schools. The school has joined the SUNY Urban Teacher Education Center advisory board and subsequently has developed ties with New York City Schools. Partnerships with agencies such as the Lincoln Center Institute have also been developed.

Prior to becoming dean, Michael was a professor in the Educational Studies Department in the Special Education program from 1974 to 1996.

Michael is the co-author of a book, “Teacher Education Issues,” which will be published in 2008.

Michael received his Bachelor of Science in Special Education and Elementary Education from Farmington State College in Farmington, Maine; his Master of Science in Special Education from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Calif.; a Certificate of Advanced Study (C.A.S.) in Educational Administration from SUNY New Paltz; and his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Fordham University in New York City.

Off campus, Michael has served as president of the board of the New York Association of Colleges for Teacher Education since 2006; the New York Statewide Higher Education/Teaching Center since 1994; the Teacher Education Advisory Group for 2007; the Professional Development Committee for the Wallkill School District since 2006; the Mid-Hudson Teacher Center policy board since 1997; and the Mid-Hudson Study Center since 1997.

Michael resides in Pine Bush, N.Y.