Phillip J. VanFossen has been named the Suzi and Dale Gallagher Dean of the College of Education at Purdue University, according to an April 16 announcement from the university.
VanFossen’s appointment comes after nearly three decades at Purdue, where he began as an assistant professor and most recently served as interim dean since June 2022. The decision underscores his longstanding commitment to education and leadership within the college.
Purdue Provost Patrick Wolfe said, “In his role as interim dean and his many years as a Purdue leader and distinguished faculty member, Professor VanFossen has developed a close-knit community of faculty, staff and students within the college. I’m so pleased to be able to name him as the clear and obvious choice to be our next Suzi and Dale Gallagher Dean of the college, leading us through the change necessary to best prepare the classroom leaders of the future.”
As dean, VanFossen will continue overseeing interdisciplinary teacher education programs that support future P-12 teachers at Purdue. He is also expected to strengthen partnerships with educational leaders both locally and nationally.
“I am honored to take on the official role as dean of the College of Education,” VanFossen said. “I look forward to continuing our efforts to move the college forward in the fast-changing world of AI and other areas. And I will leverage the momentum we have built through our cutting-edge curriculum to transform our teacher education programs — as well as our other highly successful, nationally ranked programs across both departments.”
VanFossen joined Purdue in 1997 and has held several leadership positions within its College of Education. His experience includes serving as associate dean for learning, head of curriculum and instruction, director for democratic citizenship initiatives, faculty athletic representative since 2017 working with intercollegiate athletics departments including Big Ten Conference liaisons.
His research interests include economic education for K-12 students, technology’s impact on citizenship education, civics-economic intersections in school curricula, internet use in social studies classrooms, online gaming for civic engagement among youth—and more broadly—social studies’ place in early grade curricula.
Reflecting on his tenure at Purdue University he said: “I have been blessed to be a part of this tremendous university in preparing the next generation of teachers and am proud to continue to be the College of Education’s ‘cheerleader in chief’ sharing the amazing successes of our students, faculty and staff.”
VanFossen holds a PhD from Ohio State University (1994) along with master’s/bachelor’s degrees from Miami University (Ohio). He has received multiple teaching awards throughout his career—including induction into Purdue’s Book Of Great Teachers (2023).
Purdue University describes itself as a public research institution ranked among America’s top ten public universities by student enrollment—with over 106 thousand students across campuses—and emphasizes its commitment toward affordability by maintaining tuition rates for fourteen consecutive years.
