Oklahoma’s top education adviser, Dan Hamlin, is stepping out of the governor’s Cabinet and into a major Texas campus job, leaving a high-profile vacancy back home just as election season looms. Hamlin will become the next dean of The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Education, with the move taking effect Aug. 16, less than a year after Gov. Kevin Stitt tapped him as Oklahoma’s secretary of education.
UT Austin officials announced Monday that Hamlin’s appointment begins Aug. 16 and that he will succeed Charles Martinez, who will return to the college faculty. “I am deeply honored to join The University of Texas at Austin as dean of the College of Education,” Hamlin said in the university’s release. The announcement wrapped up a national search and cited Hamlin’s scholarship and statewide leadership, according to UT Austin News.
From Oklahoma Policy Shop to Austin Dean
Before joining the Stitt administration, Hamlin built a long academic résumé. He is a Presidential Professor of education policy at the University of Oklahoma and director of the Oklahoma Center for Education Policy, with an affiliation at Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance. His curriculum vitae lists more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and research on tutoring, school choice and literacy interventions. Those credentials are detailed in his University of Oklahoma curriculum vitae, according to the document published by the University of Oklahoma.
Stitt Praises Hamlin, Oklahoma Takes Stock
Hamlin’s time as Oklahoma’s education secretary coincided with a burst of policy changes, including his support for a legislative push that tightens early-grade reading instruction and ties a key requirement to promotion to fourth grade. In a statement released through his office, Gov. Kevin Stitt called Hamlin a “game changer for education in Oklahoma.” Hamlin is also the fifth person to serve as education secretary during Stitt’s administration, according to Oklahoma Voice.
Contested Search at UT Raises Questions
Hamlin’s hire capped a national search that some UT faculty members described as contentious and marked by worries over political influence in academic hiring. Coverage in the Austin-area press noted that the search committee included fewer faculty members than in some prior dean searches and relied on a relatively new search firm with conservative ties, which added fuel to concerns about the process and any high-profile finalist. Even so, professors told reporters they would ultimately judge the pick by Hamlin’s record as a scholar and leader, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
What Comes Next
UT leaders have cast the appointment as a strategic move to strengthen the College of Education’s research profile and teacher-preparation programs. Executive Vice President and Provost William Inboden praised Hamlin’s national reputation as a scholar and as a collaborative leader. Martinez will return to the faculty, and Hamlin is set to take over on Aug. 16.
Back in Oklahoma, the timing leaves yet another gap in the governor’s education team as Stitt nears the end of his term. The governor’s office did not immediately say whether Stitt plans to name another secretary of education before a new governor is sworn in, according to Oklahoma Voice and UT Austin News.
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