Christina Christie, who currently serves as professor and chair of the education department at the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, has been named interim dean of the school, effective July 1.
A scholar of program and policy evaluation, Christie joined the faculty of UCLA in 2010 and she focuses her research on understanding evaluation as a method for facilitating social change. She has served as a lead investigator on more than 30 grants and contracts totaling approximately $33 million to study education, child maltreatment and health behavior programs.
During Christie’s tenure as chair, the UCLA’s education department has been consistently ranked No. 1 among public universities by U.S. News and World Report. Under her leadership, the department established a bachelor’s of arts program in education and social transformation; developed the curriculum for a new master’s in education program in transformative coaching and leadership; and hosted professional development programs for educators around the globe. Her efforts to build a strong department community earned her the UCLA Staff Assembly’s 2018 Faculty/Staff Partnership Award.
“Chancellor Block and I appreciate Tina’s willingness to serve as interim dean, and we have every confidence in her ability to provide strong leadership and continuity for the school,” said Emily Carter, executive vice chancellor and provost, who made the announcement in an email.
Christie is the former director of the University of California Educational Evaluation Center, which has sites at seven UC campuses, and currently serves as co-investigator on the National Institutes of Health Diversity Program Consortium’s Coordination and Evaluation Center. Christie has been recognized with distinguished career awards by two leading associations, as the recipient of the American Educational Research Association’s 2018 Research on Evaluation Special Interest Group Distinguished Scholar Award and the American Evaluation Association’s 2019 Research on Evaluation Distinguished Scholar Award.
Christie earned her doctorate from UCLA; her master of arts and master of education from Teachers College, Columbia University; and her bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York.
