Georgia Southern's new dean of education interested in social justice and equity in education took over this July.
“I am excited to be joining a University and College on the move,” said Sharon Subreenduth. “There is so much energy and innovation sparked by new collaborations within and outside of the University. I am honored to serve as the next dean of the College of Education and to be working with such dynamic, creative and equity-minded faculty, staff, students and partners — all committed to sustaining strong transformative educators and educational spaces.”
Subreenduth joins Georgia Southern from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell (UML), where she served as associate dean of the College of Education for three years. In this role, Subreenduth oversaw undergraduate academic affairs, research and graduate studies, grants and grant mentorship as well as faculty and student success. During this time, Subreenduth significantly contributed to managing the teacher licensure process and the development of non-licensure options within the college. She also initiated a number of collaborations with local schools, community partners, area educational programs and the state’s regulatory agencies in shared efforts at diversifying the teacher workforce.
Prior to joining the administration at UML, Subreenduth was a professor of curriculum and instruction at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) in Ohio for 16 years. During her tenure at BGSU, Subreenduth served for eight years as co-director of the International Democratic Education Institute, focusing on efforts to bring together faculty, community leaders and other educators from the United States and abroad to promote inquiry-based education to inform and create effective members of society. Subreenduth also served as principal investigator for a number of international grants that developed innovative partnerships with several local schools and community organizations, which spawned local-global collaborations, increased professional development and mentorship opportunities.
Her combined grants at UML and BGSU brought in nearly $5 million in educational funding that Subreenduth used to support faculty research and teacher professional development. Her strong interdisciplinary grant scholarship, and the relational aspect of her work in the United States and globally, is grounded in critical inclusion and diversity, and has fostered authentic local-global initiatives and collaborations across disciplines and produced partnerships with international educators, higher education, governmental and community-based organizations from over 40 developing post-colonial countries.
A native of South Africa, Subreenduth earned a Bachelor of Pedagogics in English, Geography, and Education from the University of Durban-Westville and a Bachelor of Education from the University of South Africa. After teaching for four years at a secondary school in South Africa, Subreenduth traveled to the U.S. to attend The Ohio State University for a master’s in social studies and global-multicultural education, followed by a Ph.D. in Curriculum, Instruction and Professional Development.
Her research interests include social justice, equity in education, global issues in education and post-apartheid South African education. Subreenduth’s scholarship is centrally concerned with research on decolonization and building diverse communities of practice through critically engaged inquiry that focuses on anti-oppressive schooling, curriculum, pedagogy and identity that is cognizant of socially responsible research within global-local educational contexts.
“I look forward to being part of the team and building on the strengths, collaborating on new initiatives and continuing the positive and lasting impact of the College of Education and Georgia Southern University’s Eagle Nation — regionally, nationally and globally,” said Subreenduth.
