Ralph Fessler

Ralph Fessler joined Hopkins in 1983 as a faculty member and Director of the Graduate Division of Education. He served as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs from 1993 until being appointed Interim Dean of the School of Professional Studies in Business and Education (SPSBE) in 1999 and Dean in 2000. Fessler was appointed Dean of the School of Education in January 2007, when SPSBE became two separate academic divisions, including the Carey Business School.

Fessler is a 1964 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he also earned his master's degree and, in 1968, a Ph.D. in educational administration and supervision. He taught in public schools in Illinois and Wisconsin and was a faculty member and administrator at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls before coming to Johns Hopkins. His research and program development specializations have included teacher career stages and development, alternative approaches to teacher education and leadership development, and school-university partnerships.

He has been involved in numerous partnership projects with school systems, with a particular emphasis on the implementation of teacher education reform initiatives in Maryland that were designed by a commission he chaired. He was the principal investigator of a comprehensive alternative urban teacher education reform project, and worked with faculty and external partners to establish the Center for Technology in Education. He has assisted with numerous international education initiatives, including projects in Israel and Taiwan.

[Updated January 2007]