Following a national search, Jill Hamm, Ph.D., William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education, has been named the next dean of the UNC School of Education. She assumes the role effective immediately after serving as the School’s interim dean since May 2024.
“I am honored to lead the UNC School of Education,” Hamm said. “Having been a faculty member at Carolina for 25 years, I have seen the School grow exponentially and am proud to have been part of the leadership team that fostered that growth. But there is more work to be done, and I’m excited to lead the School and our exceptional faculty, staff, and students in that work to realize the transformative power of education — on behalf of students, educators, and the people of North Carolina and the nation.”
Chancellor Lee H. Roberts shared the news during the UNC-Chapel Hill Faculty Council meeting on Friday, April 25, and, with Provost J. Christopher Clemens, shared the following message with campus:
Dear Carolina Community,
We are excited to announce that, following a national search, Jill V. Hamm, who has served as interim dean of the School of Education since May of last year, has accepted the position on a permanent basis, effective immediately.
During her interim tenure, Jill has been an exceptional leader, helping to maintain the health of the school, its programs and research enterprise while advancing the school’s commitment to educator preparation, innovation and community engagement. Through strategic planning and building collaborative relationships, Jill has worked with other schools and units at Carolina to strengthen community partnerships, invest in AI and increase engagement and development efforts, including laying the groundwork for the school’s success in the next University comprehensive fundraising campaign.
In the past year, Jill recruited talented faculty, hiring five new faculty members who will join the school this fall. She also welcomed the first cohort of students in the school’s online Ed.D. concentration in organizational learning and leadership.
A faculty member in applied developmental science at Carolina since 1999, Jill was named the William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education in 2018. As the inaugural associate dean for research and faculty development from 2017 to 2024, she played a leading role in developing and implementing the School of Education’s current strategic plan and growing the school’s annual research expenditures from $6.2 million in 2016 to $25 million in 2024. This growth greatly expanded Carolina’s ability to serve people and communities in North Carolina and beyond. Under her direction, the school increased its research capacity and expanded its pipeline through the creation of several pre- and post-award staff positions.
Jill is a renowned researcher with interests focused on early adolescents’ social, behavioral and academic adjustment and the role of peer relations in successful school adaptation. She has applied her research findings on naturally occurring academic and social processes in schools to the development and testing of professional learning experiences designed to help middle and high school teachers create supportive classroom and school environments. Jill is the author or co-author of more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and has served as principal investigator or co-principal investigator on research projects totaling over $18 million. She currently co-leads a $1.5 million NSF-funded collaborative research grant, Collaborative Activities in STEM Careers for Adolescent Engagement, with Horizon Research Inc., a Chapel Hill-based company that works to improve STEM education efforts through research.
Jill holds a doctorate and Master of Science in educational psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship through the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
We wish to thank the members of the search committee, chaired by Jim White, Craver Family Dean in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences, for their hard work in identifying talented candidates for this role. We are grateful for the exceptional leadership Jill has provided to the School of Education during the past year and know she will continue to advance Carolina’s commitment to realizing the transformative power of education. Please join us in congratulating Jill on her appointment.
Sincerely,
Lee H. Roberts
Chancellor
J. Christopher Clemens
Provost
Jaroslav Folda Distinguished Professor