The University of California, Irvine has named Julie A. Washington as the new dean of its School of Education, effective July 30, 2026. Washington has been leading the school as interim dean since April 2025.
Chancellor Howard Gillman stated that the UC Irvine School of Education, founded in 2012, has grown into one of the nation’s finest. Gillman expressed confidence that Washington is the right leader to continue the school's trajectory in exploring improved teaching methods and training future generations of educators.
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Hal Stern echoed this sentiment, highlighting Washington’s “nationally recognized scholarship and strong commitment to expanding opportunity for every learner” as key to the school's continued path to excellence. Washington herself affirmed that "Education has the power to transform lives and strengthen communities," emphasizing the school's role in advancing knowledge about learning and translating it into meaningful impact.
Washington joined the UC Irvine faculty in 2021. Her extensive academic background includes previous roles as a professor and chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Georgia State University, and as a professor and chair of the Department of Communicative Disorders at the University of Wisconsin. She also held research faculty appointments at the University of Michigan and served as a professor at Wayne State University.
A recognized speech-language pathologist and a fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Washington has received multiple awards for her work in advancing equity in education. Her research primarily focuses on the intersection of literacy, language variation, and poverty. She earned her M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree from Spelman College.
The UC Irvine School of Education is distinguished by its commitment to improving educational opportunity. U.S. News & World Report recently ranked it 18th overall nationally and 10th among public schools. The school's flagship education sciences major was an early innovator in its field among major research universities, reflecting UC Irvine's broader emphasis on research, equity, and innovation.
Under Washington's leadership, the School of Education aims to continue its work in advancing new knowledge about how people learn, translating research into practice for the benefit of students and educators within the Irvine community and beyond.
