UM News

Walter G. Secada

Senior Associate Dean Walter G. Secada, a professor of teaching and learning and an expert in STEM education, has been appointed acting dean of the School  of Education and Human Development until the national search for Dean Isaac Prilleltensky’s successor concludes this spring.

“I have been honored to work with Dean Prilleltensky for these past ten years,” Secada said. “During these next few months, I hope to maintain his legacy and to hand off a well-functioning School of Education and Human Development to his successor.”

Since joining the UM faculty in the fall of 2003, Secada has been associate director and co-principal investigator (PI) of the original Promoting Science among English Language Learners (P-SELL) study, which introduced a hands-on method of learning that dramatically improved test scores among English-language learners in Miami’s elementary schools.

He has served as associate director and co-PI of Science Made Sensible, which pairs doctoral students in the STEM fields with middle school teachers; associate director and co-PI of Replicating the CGI experiment in diverse environments, which helped primary teachers of mathematics focus their teaching on how students reason and learn to solve mathematics problems; and director and PI of Language in Mathematics, designed to help middle school teachers better facilitate mathematics for English-language learners.

At UM, Secada also has served as chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning and as a member of the University’s Social Sciences Institutional Review Board. He also has been a senior Fulbright fellow, helped the Peruvian ministry of education design its new school mathematics curriculum, and been awarded an honorary professorship by Universidad La Salle in Arequipa, Peru.

Born in Lima, Peru, he graduated from Miami’s Curley High School and later left the area to earn a B.A. in philosophy (magna cum laude) from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Science in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in education from Northwestern University.

He temporarily succeeds Prilleltensky, who stepped down in December after 11 years of distinguished service as dean to devote more time to his scholarly endeavors. After a one-year sabbatical to write a new book, Prilleltensky plans to return to UM as professor of educational and psychological studies and the Erwin and Barbara Mautner Chair in Community Well-Being, and continue his role as vice provost for institutional culture.

“We will be conducting a rigorous national search for a permanent dean of the School of Education and Human Development who will continue to build on our achievements,” Executive Vice President and Provost Jeffrey L. Duerk said in announcing Secada’s appointment. “Please join me in thanking Isaac Prilleltensky for his service and welcoming professor Secada to his new leadership role.”