As the son of immigrants, outgoing Graduate School of Education and Human Development Dean Michael Feuer said he’s always valued the role international connections can play in advancing education.
As Feuer gears up to end his 15-year tenure as dean July 1 and join the school’s faculty to focus on running a project that integrates civic education into teacher preparation programs, he is proud of the role he played in shaping the school’s international education programs that have provided “quality” education to “disadvantaged youth” worldwide. Feuer said also said he’s pleased with the work he’s done to raise the school’s reputation as a place committed to using research to advance education, which he’s done by cultivating a “strong” group of faculty and increasing the school’s global presence.
“I think GSEHD has changed by reinforcing and burnishing its image as a place where people can get the best advantage of research-based scholarly inquiry applied to the improvement of education,” Feuer said.
Feuer said one of his biggest accomplishments as dean was helping to launch international programs, like a partnership with Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University. He said these programs have provided pathways for “less advantaged” students, while also giving GSEHD faculty the chance to connect with students and professionals across the globe and learn new ways to teach.
The University currently offers a dual master’s degree program with ASPU, which started in 2020. The program is open to students who place in the top 100 of Azerbaijan’s state admission test and is taught in person by faculty members of GSEHD at ASPU in Baku, Azerbaijan.
“At the same time, as I think we have contributed to their success, they have made our work here incredibly interesting, and we have learned a great deal from them about what it means to develop and implement programs to expand educational opportunities,” Feuer said.
Officials appointed Feuer as GSEHD’s dean in 2010 following his previous positions as executive director of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education department at the National Academy of the Sciences from 1993 to 2010, a senior analyst at the Office of Technology Assessment from 1986 to 1993 and an assistant professor at Drexel University from 1981 to 1986.
Feuer said during his time as dean, the University’s limited resources and funding to GSEHD have led to “choppy waters” for the school, which has infringed on their ability to increase financial aid for students and potentially relocate the school to a better facility.
“In general, our philosophy has been that we can do a great deal even with limited resources,” Feuer said. “But at the same time, we don’t want to convey the message that limited resources is the new normal and that that’s what we should always be relying on.”
Feuer said he worked with Provost Chris Bracey on the provost office’s salary equity review process, a statistical model that assesses salary inequity among faculty, to increase compensation for GSEHD faculty. Four GSEHD professors had salaries that were outliers, with six faculty members having their salaries adjusted, according to the 2024 report.
GSEHD’s assistant professors have ranked as the lowest paid faculty members at the University on average for the past four consecutive years. GSEHD professors were the lowest paid at the University for the past three years, according to the University’s annual core indicator reports.
GSEHD professors made $142,784 during the 2023-24 academic year, which is over $50,000 lower than the University-wide average according to the 2025 report. Assistant professors at GSEHD made an average of $93,186 during the 2023-24 academic year, which is over $16,000 less than the University’s average, according to the report.
Feuer said the school has made “substantial progress” to fix salary inequity within GSEHD but did not specify how. He also said low compensation in the school is caused more by the national “underfunding” of education in the United States.
According to the American Association of University Professors’ annual faculty compensation survey released last June, the 60th percentile salary benchmarks were $160,322 for full professors, $115,406 for associate professors and $99,878 for assistant professors. With the exception of associate professors, these benchmarks exceed the faculty salaries at GSEHD, according to the 2025 core indicators report.
“I totally sympathize with our faculty, as I do with anybody involved in the world of education, where there is a chronic dysfunctionality in the economic system that so under-rewards people involved in an activity that is demonstrably the most significant in advancing the quality of life for all Americans,” Feuer said.
Feuer said he plans to focus on starting his program, the Forum on Democracy and Education, which will integrate civics into education, following his deanship. He said after the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation donated a $2.4 million grant earlier this year to start the forum, he decided now was the right time to focus on it.
“It was because we got that very generous grant that I thought this would be the right moment to, after 15 years, to essentially return to the faculty and to be able to devote more of my mental and physical energy to implementing the ideas behind that Forum on Democracy and Education,” Feuer said.
GSEHD faculty said Feuer has been a “collaborative” leader and an “optimist” who has helped to grow the school through hiring and building connections with faculty.
James Williams, a professor of international education and international affairs, said GSEHD’s research has become more “rigorous” under Feuer, with more systematic administrative procedures. He said Feuer has been supportive of his field of international education and that partnerships with countries like Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan have expanded research opportunities by exposing more colleagues to work in the international education space.
Williams said Feuer is a positive thinker when it comes to solving problems, and his energy has helped motivate faculty during the “ups and downs” of the school’s varying budgets during his time as dean.
“Dean Feuer has provided a very, very good, inspiring leadership during somewhat difficult times, and I hope that he’s helped us weather it in ways we can see and not see,” Williams said.
Jaehwa Choi, an associate professor of educational research, said Feuer exhibited a “balanced” style of leadership as dean, as he never leaned into one specific approach but rather encouraged open forums on decision-making that often led to multiple viewpoints surfacing.
Choi said one of the most significant “positives” of Feuer’s tenure has been the connections he’s built with those outside of the University, including with experts who have been invited to speak or international universities who have created partnerships with GSEHD. He said by doing so, Feuer has helped to promote dialogue and allow for diverse perspectives on decision-making at the school.
“Through numerous talks, forums, and collaborations with external experts, Dean Feuer created valuable spaces for idea exchange,” Choi said in an email. “These interactions brought fresh perspectives and helped enrich the intellectual climate at GSEHD.”
Sylven Beck, an associate professor of curriculum and pedagogy, said Feuer was a “kind” leader who helped her program by establishing partnerships with local school systems that have raised awareness to her field in the D.C. area.
Under Feuer’s leadership GSEHD began the program for equity-centered leadership with DC Public Schools and the Early Childhood Special Education program with Alexandria City Public Schools. Feuer said GSEHD also launched EdCore, a program that created a “two way bridge” between GSEHD scholars and local teachers and principals, but due to political changes, this program was shut down.
Beck said Feuer has exhibited warmth to her throughout her time at GSEHD, adding that he emails her annually on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, empathizing with the loss of her brother, who passed away during the attacks.
“That is an example of why I just have so much respect for him, and I hope he lives a long life and is happy because he is kind,” Beck said.
