VCU news

By Mary Kate Brogan
School of Pharmacy

Andrew Daire, Ph.D., dean of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Education since 2016, has accepted the position of provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, effective June 1, 2023.

During his tenure as dean at VCU, the school developed and launched more than a half-dozen new undergraduate programs to address a critical staffing shortage in education in Virginia and nationwide, as well as several new graduate programs. Under his leadership, the School of Education has doubled enrollment, has improved its U.S. News and World Report ranking to No. 16 among public graduate schools of education, and has been second only to the School of Medicine at VCU in external funding supporting research. This year, the School of Education was one of 32 institutions internationally recognized for its leadership and forward-looking approach in training future teachers and educators.

“A lot has been accomplished since my arrival in 2016. We saw transformational growth in our endowments, which mostly support student scholarships, by over 150% and annual scholarship awards by over 25%; increased external research funding by 40% to $37.5 million; and recently received a Top 100 Global Higher Education ranking by Shanghai Rankings,” Daire said. “This has been a team effort with great students, staff, faculty and administrators.”

Ranked No. 25 in U.S. News and World Report’s Best Education Schools rankings, the VCU School of Education offers three doctoral, two master’s, six undergraduate and nine certificate programs in areas including counseling, leadership, special education and teaching and learning.

“Although Dean Daire will be missed throughout the university, President Michael Rao, Ph.D., and I are exceedingly proud of him and his accomplishments, which are indicative of the stellar quality of his leadership and the recognition of VCU on a national stage,” said Fotis Sotiropoulos, Ph.D., VCU’s provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.

At UW-Milwaukee, Daire will lead academic operations for the university, which serves 23,000 students and is nationally recognized for its undergraduate research and opportunities for real-world experiences that shape students’ education and careers.

Daire previously served as associate dean for research in the College of Education at the University of Houston. He earned a B.S. in biology and an M.S. in mental health counseling from Stetson University and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology and school psychology from Florida State University.

Sotiropoulos will work closely with Daire over the next few months to launch a search for a new dean and to appoint interim leadership until a new dean is hired.