Dr. Peter Hlebowitsh joined The University of Alabama College of Education in 2013 and is its tenth dean. Hlebowitsh comes from the University of Iowa, where he most recently served as the Department Executive Officer of the Department of Teaching and Learning since 2008.

His research includes work done in the areas of educational foundations, curriculum theory, and curriculum development. In the 1990s, Hlebowitsh helped to co-direct several large-scale curriculum development projects in Central and Eastern Europe, focusing mostly on civic education reforms in post-Soviet societies. He is the author of a book on curriculum theory, Radical Curriculum Theory Reconsidered (Teachers College Press, 1993); and a textbook on curriculum design, Designing the School Curriculum (Allyn Bacon, 2005); and an educational foundations textbook, Foundation of American Education (Kendall-Hunt, 2007).

Dean Hlebowitsh follows a long line of deans at the College of Education that see an important role for the College in supporting the work of school teachers and in bringing improvement to the school lives of children. The College has long been recognized in the state as a leader in helping educators teach and in producing young innovative professionals who are dedicated to working with school children. Under Dean Hlebowitsh’s leadership, the College is pursuing a more activist role in areas related to public school achievement, especially in the area of literacy.

The College recently endowed its first academic chair in order to recruit a scholar of national rank in literacy. The chair is named in honor of Paul W. and Mary Harmon Bryant. Coach Bryant is an alumnus of the college. Once selected the chair holder will focus on early literacy providing a variety of services to families, including a reading clinic and summer time literacy programs while assisting in developing a leading reading research center. Peter believes literacy is one of the biggest problems facing Alabamians and is the key to economic development and improving the quality of life for all in the state.

Along these same lines, Dean Hlebowitsh is endeavoring to strengthen the College’s national profile as an institution that advances research and that strives to be a place of intellectual excitement and instructional innovation. The faculty of the College is producing work that is catching the attention of others, as a number of exciting research initiatives in the areas of neuroscience and learning, psychometrics and the policy and practice of schooling are giving the College national visibility.

Education
•M.A. Rutgers University, 1983, Curriculum Theory and Development
•B.A. Rutgers University, 1981, Elementary Education
•Ed.D. Rutgers University, 1987, Curriculum Theory and Development