Ali Carr-Chellman is an educator, leader, and innovator with a strong record of advancing teaching, learning, and organizational change. She will hold the Kuntz Family Chair in Educational Administration and was for 5 years the Dean of the School of Education and Health Sciences at the University of Dayton. In that role she focused on building collaborative partnerships, expanding academic programs, increasing externally funded research, and raising student success factors such as graduation, retention, and placement rates. Prior to her service at Dayton, Ali served as Dean of the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences at the University of Idaho for 4 years, as Program Chair for 8 years and Department Head for 6 years at Penn State building more than 25 years of progressive leadership in higher education. Ali earned her Ph.D. at Indiana University, Bloomington in Instructional Systems with a focus on Educational Systems Design, her Master’s in Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation and her Bachelor’s in Education, both at Syracuse University.
Her career has centered on creating learning environments that are inclusive, engaging, and future-focused. With a background in instructional design and educational technology, Ali’s work explores how schools and universities can better meet the needs of diverse learners. Her widely viewed TED Talk, “Gaming to Re-Engage Boys in Learning,” highlights her commitment to bringing creative solutions to persistent challenges in education. She has more than 100 journal articles, 9 books, $8M in external funding and 13,000 Google Scholar citations. She continues to teach and write as an administrator and is strongly grounded in design practice and shared governance.
As both a scholar and administrator, Ali has published extensively on systems change, online learning, and educational equity, while also serving in leadership roles that emphasize innovation and community engagement. She is known for her ability to connect research with practice, foster collaboration, and lead with vision and empathy.