Edel Reilly
Indiana University of Pennsylvania has named Edel Reilly, former interim dean of the IUP College of Education and Human Services, to the position of dean of the College of Education and Human Services. She transitioned to this role on February 8.
Reilly is an experienced faculty member and administrator, serving in the Division of Academic Affairs since 2007. She was as a professor in the Department of Mathematical and Computer Sciences and as assistant and interim chair of the department. She was the director of Liberal Studies from 2017 to 2022 and provost’s associate for Academic Planning from 2022 to 2023. Prior to the university’s academic restructuring, she was interim dean of the College of Education and Communications (now the College of Education and Human Services).
She is an active member of many IUP committees and task forces and was the Middle State Commission on Higher Education accreditation liaison officer and 2023–25 MSCHE Self-Study Steering Committee cochair; she also served on the 2013–16 Middle States Re-Accreditation Steering Committee and was cochair of the Leadership, Governance, and Administration Subcommittee.
“Dr. Reilly is fully committed to advancing IUP in all ways, serving in important university-wide leadership roles in addition to her academic and administrative responsibilities,” IUP Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Lara Luetkehans said. “She is a thoughtful and skilled leader who is deeply respected for her knowledge and expertise and for her ability to create strong teams and interdisciplinary relationships and programs.
“She has done an outstanding job as the interim dean of the College of Education and Communications and the restructured College of Education and Human Services, and I am very pleased she has agreed to serve as dean,” Provost Luetkehans said. “I have full confidence in her ability to lead new initiatives to advance IUP’s outstanding education preparation programs while creating new synergies offered by the expanded scope of the College through its human services departments—all while keeping student success at the center of our work,” Provost Luetkehans said.
The College of Education and Human Services includes the departments of Career and Wellness Education, Counseling and Human Development, Professional Studies in Education, Teacher Education, and School Psychology, Special Education, and Sociology.
“I am thrilled to accept this position to lead the College of Education and Human Services as dean,” Reilly said. “I am honored to have the confidence of President Driscoll and Provost Luetkehans to trust in my abilities, and I look forward to collaborations with the faculty, staff, and students not only in the college but across the university.”
In addition to her work with Middle States, she has been a long-time member of the University Senate, the Teacher Education Coordinators Council, the Center for Teaching Excellence Advisory Board, the Summer Curriculum Action Team, and the Common Freshman Reader Selection Committee.
Reilly has been successful in securing several grants focused on encouraging students to become educators, including serving as coprincipal investigator for the Department Future Special Education-Pattan Funded grant; and three programs funded by the National Science Foundation: Meeting the Need for STEM Teachers in Western Pennsylvania Noyce STEM Education Grant (she was the coprincipal investigator), Scholarship–Creating Opportunities for Applying Mathematics (S-COAM), and Institutions Developing Excellence in Academic Leadership, serving as the site change leader.
She has published two books, Writing to Learn Mathematics and A SMART Way to Teach Math, and has authored a number of book chapters and journal articles about teaching mathematics, including improving girls’ interest in mathematics, parental involvement, and integrating mathematics, art, research, collaboration, and storytelling at the middle school level. She has been an invited presenter for international, national, and regional conferences.
She has been recognized for her work at IUP with the University Senate Distinguished Faculty Award for Service and the Outstanding Graduate Student Research Award.
Reilly is active in her profession outside the IUP community as secretary of the Mathematics Classroom Teaching Research for All Students and in leadership roles for the Pennsylvania Council of Teachers of Mathematics, which honored her for her service with the Distinguished Service Award.
She earned her doctor of education from IUP, her master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and her undergraduate degrees from the National University of Ireland, Galway.