Tom Owenby is the UW–Madison School of Education’s new associate dean for teacher education, a role he started on Jan. 1.
In this position, Owenby will serve as the director of the School’s Teacher Education Center, which provides leadership and support to the School of Education’s 15 teacher education programs, coordinates partnerships with local school districts, and serves as a liaison to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and other state and national partners.
“Dr. Owenby is an innovative and experienced teacher, teacher educator, and leader,” says School of Education Dean Diana Hess. “He has developed deep knowledge of our teacher education programs and the Wisconsin context in which we work. Both make him exceptionally well-prepared for this position.”
Owenby has worked at the UW–Madison School of Education for more than a decade in various roles with its teacher education programs. Most recently, from 2018 to this past fall, he served as a faculty associate in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, where he oversaw the School’s Secondary Social Studies Education program. Also this past fall semester, he spent 50 percent of his time working in the Teacher Education Center.
“I’m excited to help our School continue to uplift and innovate in the realm of teacher education,” says Owenby. “In my role, I’ll be supporting everyone from faculty and staff, to our students, alumni, and school- and community-based partners in their important work.”
Owenby adds that he is committed to examining new and effective ways to help address staffing challenges that are affecting school districts around Wisconsin and across the nation, while also working on initiatives that can help diversify the teacher workforce.
Owenby says he hopes to use the UW–Madison School of Education Wisconsin Teacher Pledge as a lever to bolster these efforts. The donor-funded Teacher Pledge pays the equivalent of in-state tuition and fees, testing, and licensing costs for all teacher education students. In return, graduates “pledge” to teach for three or four years at a pre-kindergarten through 12th grade school in Wisconsin.
UW–Madison Professor Nick Hillman, who directs the university’s Student Success Through Applied Research (SSTAR) lab, is leading efforts to study this pilot of the Teacher Pledge. The researchers are examining if the Teacher Pledge is helping encourage students to enter the School’s teacher education programs, and if it’s incentivizing them to stay in Wisconsin and teach. Results of these studies could one day help aid efforts around Wisconsin and across the nation in building a stronger teacher workforce.
“An important piece of what we do across our School is connecting research with practice,” says Owenby. “Our Teacher Education Center is a home and incubation space for developing research-based best practices that we can share with educators in the field and with peers across the country.”
In addition to his work in higher education, Owenby also has extensive experience as a classroom teacher, spending time between 2002 and 2008 teaching subjects like history, English, and more in places like Cape Town, South Africa, Seoul, South Korea, and Perris, California.
Owenby earned a PhD in social studies education and teacher education from UW–Madison in 2018. He previously received a master’s in international politics from the Graduate Institute of Peace Studies at Kyung Hee University in 2008. He also earned a BA in history and Wisconsin teaching certification from Beloit College in 2001.
Professor Kimber Wilkerson had previously served as the School’s associate dean for teacher education, and had been the faculty director of the Teacher Education Center since its launch in 2018. Wilkerson will continue to work with the TEC this coming semester before returning to her faculty position with the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education in the fall of 2023.
During her time leading the TEC, Wilkerson developed processes that provide cross-programmatic support for all of the School’s teacher education programs. She also oversaw the design of new teacher education programs and worked with colleagues to secure millions of dollars of federal funding to create and research new approaches to teacher education. Wilkerson also has been a key member of the team that launched the Teacher Pledge in the summer of 2020, and worked collaboratively with the School’s Office of Professional Learning and Community Education (PLACE) to design and implement the Early Career Teaching Institute that supports recent alumni and helps them thrive in the teaching profession.
“There are a lot of great things taking place in our Teacher Education Center and across our teacher education programs,” says Owenby. “I’m excited to continue to build upon the important work that Kimber, the team, and our partners have been doing.”