Dr. Yune Kim Tran

Dr. Yune Tran is the dean for the School of Education and Social Work (SESW). She holds a concurrent academic faculty rank as a tenured professor in the elementary/special education department. Dr. Tran has more than 20 years of experience across P-20 platforms. Previously, she served as associate dean of academic affairs in the College of Education and Human Services at Montclair State University in New Jersey (2018-2021), where she led accreditation processes, curricular review and approval, new program identification, internal and external grants oversight, and many other initiatives such as academic articulation programs with community colleges, faculty development, hiring and retention, diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, and student mentoring programs in teacher education for the college.

Prior to Montclair State, Dr. Tran served in various leadership roles at George Fox University in Oregon (2011-2018), which included associate professor and chair of the school’s undergraduate teacher education program, coordinator of the international student-teaching abroad program, director of the elementary compute science coding program, and director of the faculty of color mentoring program. Her practitioner experiences preceding academia included 12 years serving as an elementary teacher, middle school math teacher, and administrator in several urban school districts in Florida, California, and Texas where she worked to improve curriculum and instruction for English learners and marginalized student populations.  

Dr. Tran’s background in teacher preparation and research of pedagogically sound practices to effectively serve diverse students and families have intersected with an extensive record of academic publications, conference proceedings, presentations, and grant awards. Her teaching and scholarly areas of interest include equity and access, teacher self-efficacy, teacher identity, and teacher education assessment. She is a frequent presenter at prestigious national and international conferences with invited lectures and workshops in countries such as Korea, New Zealand, and Australia. Dr. Tran also has a lengthy record of service to the departments and institutions at which she has been employed, as well as the communities in which she has lived.

Dr. Tran received a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from The University of Texas at Austin, an M.Ed. in educational leadership from Texas State University, and a B.S. in child development and family relations from The University of Texas at Austin.