After spending a decade at the University of Oklahoma, Dr. T. Elon Dancy II has joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh as the Helen S. Faison Chair and director of the Center for Urban Education.
“I pursued the position because it was compelling for two reasons,” says Dancy, who was recognized as an “Emerging Scholar” by Diverse in 2014. “First, what the chair symbolizes mattered deeply,” says Dancy, adding that the chair honors the 43-year legacy of pioneer educator Dr. Helen S. Faison, who was Pittsburgh’s first Black woman high school principal and superintendent.
It is also the first fully endowed chair in the university’s School of Education.
“The position inspired me on a personal level as a fourth-generation professional educator who is the product of Black women teachers and principals,” says Dancy. “Second, the Center is a highly active research, teaching, and service unit which testifies to a solid foundation and infrastructure.”
Dancy says that he believes that his interdisciplinary research agenda, administrative experience leading projects in urban education and community engagement and teaching record will complement the Center’s faculty expertise.
“The Center for Urban Education is a challenging and highly active enterprise,” says Dancy, adding that the purpose of the center is to partner with communities to “produce knowledge, disseminate it to change agents, and to transform the current landscape of educational opportunities and experiences for the most marginalized and vulnerable populations.”
Dancy says that two of the Center’s most visible projects include a visiting scholar lecture series which hosts some of the nation’s most prominent scholars in the field and the CUE Summer Forum, which exposes local educators to theory and practice in culturally responsive pedagogy.
