2017 – Dr. Mia Tuan

Dr. Mia Tuan is the Dean of the University of Washington College of Education and has served in this role since 2015. Throughout her career, Dr. Tuan has worked to strengthen equity and inclusion for students of all backgrounds across educational settings. Her commitment to helping all students know that they matter and belong originated with her upbringing as a 1.5 generation American. Born in Taiwan, Dr. Tuan migrated to the U.S. at the age of 3 with her family, growing up in the Bay Area as part of the generation that helped diversify the region.

Dr. Tuan’s formative experiences with belonging led her to study sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, where she received her bachelor’s degree, and later earn her master’s and doctorate in sociology from UCLA. She joined the University of Oregon’s sociology faculty in 1996, and in 2007 joined its College of Education.

Dr. Tuan’s scholarship focuses on racial and ethnic identity development, Asian transracial adoption, and majority/minority relations. She is the author of numerous scholarly articles and three books, Choosing Ethnicity, Negotiating Race: Korean Adoptees in America; Prejudice in Politics: Group Position, Public Opinion and the Wisconsin Treaty Rights Dispute; and Forever Foreigners or Honorary Whites? The Contemporary Asian Ethnic Experience.

While at the UO, Dr. Tuan served in numerous leadership positions, including interim dean of the College of Education, associate dean of the Graduate School, director of the Center on Diversity & Community, and director of the sociology department’s honors program.

As dean of the UW College of Education, Dr. Tuan leads a national powerhouse in education research, with more than $42 million in funded research during FY2016 advancing knowledge of early learning best practices, inclusive education, STEM learning in the classroom and informal environments, and how to prepare and support outstanding teachers. The College partners with more than 300 schools, districts and communities throughout the Puget Sound and beyond to take up the most pressing challenges in education.

Since her arrival, the UW College of Education has received leadership grants of more than $15 million supporting its leading edge research in early childhood education and ambitious science teaching; created the national Family Leadership Design Collaborative to advance equitable family-school-community partnerships for educational justice and community well-being; established a new Education, Communities & Organizations major in which every student performs an intensive capstone project within a local school or community organization; and launched the UW Brotherhood Initiative to support the success of young men of color in higher education.

Dr. Tuan serves on the Alliance for Education Board of Directors and is Incoming Chair of the American Educational Research Association’s Consortium of Universities and Research Institutions Executive Committee.