Dr. Shana Hagan-Burke Appointed As New EPSY Department Head

Dr. Shana Hagan-Burke was selected to be the new department head for the Department of Educational Psychology. Dr. Hagan-Burke, who’s worked in the department as an associate professor for 11 years, most recently served as associate department head under former head Dr. Vic Willson.

“It’s an exciting challenge becoming the new department head and I look forward to learning more,” said Dr. Hagan-Burke. “I think Dr. Willson has done an outstanding job being the glue as far as maintaining our identity within the college and ensuring that EPSY stays cohesive.”

Dr. Hagan-Burke said that the transition into her new position comes at a very exciting time within the department.

“We have a number of amazing academic programs and outreach efforts under way and I take great pride in them because they are a part of our department,” she said. “I believe we have some extraordinarily talented people here and I also believe that we’ve made an investment to support newer faculty so that they can be successful and grow into the position.”

Moving forward, Dr. Hagan-Burke said she plans to work closely with faculty and staff to continue refining a shared vision and ensuring that departmental resource allocations enable programs to achieve their respective goals.

“The university and college have high expectations,” she said. “I think the key is to identify the ways in which EPSY’s vision aligns with university and college-level strategic goals and to recognize ways in which our research and outreach efforts help meet those goals. Ultimately this type of alignment will benefit us.”

Part of Dr. Hagan-Burke’s planning includes utilizing the strengths of existing faculty and staff members within the department.

“The opportunity to serve as a faculty member entails more than generating publications and grant dollars. Ultimately the job is about the impact our work can have on the community as a whole, the department, and our students,” she said. “One thing that I’ll enjoy the most is figuring out where each person shines and making sure that we’ve got them in the right situations to do so.”

Dr. Hagan-Burke’s term as EPSY department head will begin June 15.