Robert Q. Berry III Named Next College of Education Dean

Robert Q. Berry III, Ph.D. will join the University of Arizona on July 1 as the Dean and Paul L. Lindsey and Kathy J. Alexander Chair of the College of Education. In this role, he will continue to build upon the College of Education's mission to promote learning, research, and transformative action to create a more inclusive and equitable community and world.

Dr. Berry will join the College of Education from the University of Virginia, where he is currently the inaugural Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the School of Education and Human Development and the Samuel Braley Gray Professor of Mathematics Education. Additionally, Dr. Berry is the immediate Past-President of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), and he was recently elected to the National Academy of Education. His full CV can be viewed here.

Equity issues in mathematics education are central to Berry’s research efforts with four related areas: a) Understanding Black children’s mathematics experiences; b) Measuring standards-based mathematics teaching practices; c) Unpacking equitable mathematics teaching and learning with issues of social justice, and d) Exploring interactions between technology and mathematics education. Berry is the lead developer of a mathematics classroom observation instrument, Mathematics Scan, which measures standards-based mathematics teaching practices.

In addition, he co-edited the 2020 book High School Mathematics Lessons to Explore, Understand, and Respond to Social Injustice. His articles have appeared in the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, Journal of Teacher Education, Educational Studies in Mathematics, and the American Educational Research Journal. Berry has authored more than 100 publications and has lectured and made major presentations worldwide. Berry is a two-time recipient of NCTM’s Linking Research and Practice Publication Award and received the University of Virginia’s All-University Teaching Award in 2011.

Berry is a first-generation college graduate who received his Bachelor of Science degree from Old Dominion University, his master’s degree from Christopher Newport University, and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

He will succeed Dr. Bruce Johnson, who returns to research and teaching in the College of Education following a successful five-year appointment as Dean.