Camilla P. Benbow has been reappointed as dean of Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development. The reappointment is for a five-year term, beginning July 1, 2015.
“Camilla Benbow has been an exceptional leader of the college during challenging times,” said McCarty, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. “Camilla has maintained a clear vision to sustain the excellence of the college and communicated that vision, while joining with faculty and staff to implement it.
“She continues to be a leader in talent development and inclusion. I extend my deep appreciation to Camilla for her continued leadership of Peabody College and I wish her continued success in the years ahead,” he said.
Benbow, Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development, was appointed dean of Peabody in 1998, coming from Iowa State University. A nationally recognized scholar of talent identification and development, she also co-directs the longitudinal Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth.
Dean Benbow has authored or co-authored more than 100 articles and 35 chapters. She is the editor of Intellectual Talent: Psychometric and Social Issues (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996) with Professor of Psychology and Human Development at Peabody David Lubinski; and Academic Precocity: Aspects of its Development (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983) with Julian Stanley.
Under Benbow’s leadership as dean, Peabody has become one of the nation’s foremost colleges of education. In recent years, it has been consistently ranked among the top five graduate schools of education by U.S. News & World Report, including holding the No. 1 position for five of the last six years.
Annual research expenditures exceed $40 million, and the college is home to several federally-funded national research centers. With nearly 1,800 undergraduate, professional, and graduate students, Peabody also offers Vanderbilt’s largest undergraduate major, Human and Organizational Development.
“I am deeply honored to serve Vanderbilt as dean of Peabody College and to share in the university’s mission of education, knowledge discovery, and service,” said Benbow. “These are challenging times for education at all levels in our society. Peabody’s faculty, students and alumni make important contributions to strengthening schools, communities, and complex organizations, and I am excited about continuing to facilitate their efforts.”
Benbow is a former member of the National Science Board and recently co-chaired the Commission on Standards and Performance Reporting that developed new accreditation standards for the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. She is a trustee of Fisk University, former vice chair of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel, and co-founder and former co-chair of the Committee of AAU College of Education Deans. She also is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Educational Research Association.
Benbow has received the David Imig Award from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (2010), the President’s Award from the National Association for Gifted Children (2009), and the Distinguished Alumna Award from Johns Hopkins University (2008). In 2004, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the MENSA Education and Research Foundation.
by Kurt Brobeck