Rene S. Parmar, Ph.D., appointed Dean of the School of Education

Rene S. Parmar, Ph.D., dean of the School of Education at Lehman College, has accepted an offer to become the next dean of the School of Education at SUNY New Paltz, effective Aug. 1, 2024.

Parmar is an accomplished scholar, teacher, higher education administrator and school district partner with more than four decades’ experience across P-12 and higher education.

“I’m really delighted that Rene will be joining the academic leadership at SUNY New Paltz as Dean of the School of Education,” said Provost William McClure. “I am confident she will bring the right combination of relevant experience, creative thinking, and professional success to her new role, and I, along with the Deans of the other colleges and schools, are very much looking forward to welcoming her to our community.”

Parmar has served as Dean of Lehman’s School of Education since 2021, a role that includes oversight of three institutes and centers that collaborate with public and charter schools in The Bronx, in close coordination with the New York City Department of Education, to increase, enrich and diversify the education workforce. Her accomplishments at Lehman College include development of new degree and certificate programs; expansion of online curricular offerings; collaborative strategic planning and plan implementation; support for faculty professional development, including anti-racist and anti-oppression practices; and cultivation of new partnerships with P-12 districts and community agencies.

Prior to her time at Lehman, Parmar served for 25 years at St. John’s University, first as a professor of Special Education and later as Chairperson of the Department of Administrative & Instructional Leadership. At both Lehman and St. John’s, Parmar worked to successfully obtain and maintain accreditation from the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (affiliated with the former TEAC). She has also taught as a tenured professor at the University at Buffalo in the SUNY system, co-creating a Ph.D. in Special Education.

Parmar has published and presented widely in the areas of educational assessment, mathematics for students with learning disabilities, and educational leadership for inclusive environments and practices. She has served as a Fellow at the Rockefeller Institute of Government and is currently the Vice President/President Elect of the New York Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.

She holds a Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of North Texas, an M.Ed. in Special Education from Vanderbilt University, and a B.A. in Liberal Arts and Economics from the University of Jabalpur, India.

Aaron Isabelle, currently serving as interim dean of New Paltz’s School of Education, will return to the faculty upon Parmar’s start date.