New College of Education Dean Named at TAMIU

There’s certainly an international dimension to new Texas A&M International University Dean of the College Education Dr. James O’Meara, originally from Australia.

In action this month, The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents appointed Dr. O’Meara to his new post after a national search.

With 15 years as a collaborative college leader and 14 years of international teaching experience, O’Meara joins the University from the National Louis University of Chicago, IL where he was most recently Associate Dean.

Dr. Tom Mitchell, interim TAMIU provost and vice president, said the University’s search committee was duly impressed by O’Meara’s broad spectrum of experience.

“We saw in him an international perspective that has been borne out in program development and analysis, program innovation and partnerships with an entrepreneurial spirit, and in a faculty-centered commitment to advance the careers of colleagues. He has also developed a compelling vision for the future of education in the US and abroad. This, coupled with teaching experience in Australia, Europe and the US, made him a highly desirable candidate for this post.  The College of Education will be well served by his global approach to leadership in the rapidly changing field of teaching,” Dr. Mitchell said.

O’Meara’s research interests span the development of faculty in a global context and advancing education across cultures and in diverse, blended learning environments in both rural and remote communities.  He currently serves as the president of the International Council on Education for Teaching, with active membership in key UNESCO groups.

He is the editor of Pathways to Literate Worlds, Oxford: Oxford University Publishing, and co-editor of Internationalization in Higher Education: Global Perspectives on Collaboration and Change, New York: Nova Science Publishers. He has authored numerous articles, chapters, research reports, curriculum guides and manuals and teacher education publications, in countries including Africa, Australia, India, Singapore and New Zealand, among others.

Among his grants activity are successful projects establishing classroom connections in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho and a Schools Total Health Project in Tamil Nadu, India.

O’Meara earned his Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Ballarat, Australia.  He also holds a Master of Arts in Distance Education from the Open University Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, and his Bachelor of Education from the University of Ballarat.

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