The Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development (OLPD) has announced that Tania D. Mitchell will serve as the next chair of the department, effective this summer. As chair, she not only will oversee the administration of the department but will guide ongoing development and implementation of department programs, initiatives, policies, and goals.
“I am excited that Tania will serve as OLPD Chair and join the academic leadership team,” said CEHD Dean Michael C. Rodriguez. “She brings scholarship and expertise in student development, civic identity, and community engagement, that will contribute tremendously to department and college goals. Having worked with her on a number of projects over the years, I am fully confident in her abilities to be an effective scholar leader.”
Mitchell is an associate professor of higher education in the department and serves as the coordinator of graduate programs in the Higher Education track in OLPD. Her teaching interests include social justice theory; civil discourse; public service; leadership; college student development; action research methods; and the pedagogy, philosophy, and practice of community engagement in higher education.
An internationally recognized scholar in service learning and community engagement, Mitchell was recognized with the 2019 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award and the 2022 Publication of the Year Award from the International Association for Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement. Mitchell’s research also explores leadership education and development, and the experiences of minoritized students. She serves as an associate editor of the Review of Higher Education and the U of M included Mitchell in the first class of McKnight Presidential Fellows (2017-20).
Mitchell is a scholar-practitioner who has taught at Stanford University, Mills College, California State University Monterey Bay, and the University of Massachusetts. In her time at the U of M, she has been an active member of the Faculty Consultative Committee of the University Senate, a member of the Core Curriculum 2025 committee considering the redesign of the undergraduate general education curriculum, and served as chair of the Faculty Steering Committee for the University’s undergraduate leadership minor. She holds a BA in political science and communications from Baylor University, an MS in higher education and student affairs from Indiana University, and an EdD in student development from the University of Massachusetts.
“I’m very excited about the opportunity to serve the department and the college as the next chair of OLPD,” Mitchell said. “We are a diverse and dynamic department that makes significant impacts in the college, University, community, and our respective disciplines through leadership, scholarship, and our work preparing students for leadership in various organizational contexts. I look forward to working with my colleagues across the department to continue to strengthen our programs, support our students, and contribute to knowledge building that shapes organizational change.”
