Fouad Abd-El-Khalick

Abd-El-Khalick has dedicated more than two decades of his academic career to the research, teaching, and service missions of pre-eminent, flagship public research universities. He has a distinguished record of achievement in promoting excellence and success for students, faculty, and staff university-wide, across academic disciplines. As an academic leader, he is a devoted champion of diversity, equity and inclusion, who has built programs that not only expand access for diverse students but also provide them the support required to ensure equitable educational outcomes. He also is focused on diversifying and supporting faculty and staff members to ensure their success and promote institutional excellence, leadership, and impact in research and public engagement.

Before joining UMass Amherst, Abd-El-Khalick served as dean of the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) for eight years, where he also was vested as Alumni Distinguished Professor. At the UNC School of Education, he recruited exceptional faculty and staff members, and led efforts that substantially increased research funding, launched new academic programs, grew enrollment and instruction, expanded student and faculty diversity, and boosted philanthropic giving. Before UNC, Abd-El-Khalick worked for 16 years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he served as head of the Department of Curriculum & Instruction and associate dean for research & research education in the College of Education, won teaching and research awards, led campus-wide innovative research initiatives, and was invested as the Grayce Wicall Gauthier Professor of Education.

An elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Abd-El-Khalick is a leading researcher on the teaching and learning about, and assessment of, nature of science in science education. He has served as editor of the Journal of Research in Science Teaching (JRST) and associate editor of the Journal of Science Teacher Education, JRST, and School Science and Mathematics. He has held leadership positions in his field, including on the executive board of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST). In 2022, NARST bestowed on Abd-El-Khalick their highest honor by selecting him to receive the “Distinguished Contributions to Science Education through Research Award.” In 2021, the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science named Abd-El-Khalick the sole “Kuwait Prize Laureate in Economics and Social Sciences (Education).”