About Karen Gallagher

Karen Symms Gallagher was appointed the Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education in 2000. Under her leadership, the USC Rossier School has risen to the rank of 19th nationally, redoubled its commitment to strengthening urban education both in the United States and around the globe, and created innovative master’s and doctoral programs that prepare students to become agents of change as teachers, administrators and researchers. Gallagher has been a professor, scholar and academic administrator at both public and private research universities throughout the United States. Before coming to USC, she was dean of education at the University of Kansas, and prior to Kansas, she directed Ohio’s Commission on Educational Improvement, working with policymakers in the Ohio General Assembly and business leaders from the Ohio Business Roundtable.