Raffaella Borasi, who has led the Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development at the University of Rochester since 2001, has been appointed to a second five-year term as dean. She is known nationally for her work as a mathematics educator and innovator in professional development for teachers and principals.
University President Joel Seligman announced her reappointment today, following approval by the University's Board of Trustees. "Raffaella Borasi has directed the Warner School during a period of substantial growth and recognition," said Seligman. "The increased number of national grants for Warner faculty will benefit schools in the city and throughout the region."
During Borasi's deanship, the Warner School has quadrupled its grant support, earned national accreditation by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, and undertaken a major renewal of all instructional programs. In response, the number of faculty increased 65 percent and student enrollment jumped 40 percent.
The Warner Center for Professional Development and Education Reform was created and has secured more than $10 million in funding and another $500,000 in contracts. It is a vital component of the Warner School's mission to promote school reform.
Borasi joined the Warner School faculty in 1985. She is widely published in the field of mathematics education and is the author of Learning Mathematics Through Inquiry (Heinemann, 1992), Reconceiving Mathematics Instruction: A Focus on Error (Ablex, 1996), and Reading Counts: Expanding the Role of Reading in Mathematics Classrooms (Teachers College Press, 2000).
"The Warner School bridges research and practice in a way that makes a difference in the classroom," said Seligman. "I am confident that with Dean Borasi's leadership, Warner is positioned to increase its already substantial contribution to the quality of education, counseling, and human development in the Rochester community and to research and practice in those fields across the nation."
Borasi, a native of Italy, is a graduate of the University of Torino. She received a Fulbright scholarship to study in the United States, and earned her master's degree and doctorate in mathematics education from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She holds the Frederica Warner Professorship and is the Warner School's sixth dean.
Note to editors: A color jpg of Raffaella Borasi is available by e-mail. Call (585) 275-4128 or e-mail sdickman@rochester.edu. Dean Borasi and her family reside in Brighton.