Dr. Randy Yerrick, known for his collaborative efforts, innovative teaching and implementation of technology in STEM classrooms, has been named the new dean of the Kremen School of Education and Human Development at Fresno State, effective July 1.
Yerrick has been an associate dean of the Graduate School of Education and a professor of science education at the University at Buffalo since 2006. Among other roles, he was responsible for outreach, engagement and strategic partnerships.
“I’m very excited that Dean Randy Yerrick will join us as the new dean of the Kremen School of Education and Human Development. He comes to us with an extensive track record of success,” said Dr. Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at Fresno State. “I’m certain that the Kremen School will reach a new level of excellence under his passionate and creative leadership. His vast knowledge of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, along with his impressive grant-writing record, will create new avenues for interdisciplinary collaboration.”
Yerrick’s research focus has explored how historical barriers for underrepresented STEM learners can be traversed through expert teaching practices. Other areas of expertise include race, inequality and education.
As an Apple Distinguished Educator, Yerrick collaborated with supporting STEM efforts in hundreds of schools in more than 20 states, as well as internationally.
“My research has traversed a wide range of diversity in classrooms where students have been marginalized — lower track rural and urban classrooms in the Midwest, South and Southwest, Black and LatinX communities, higher education and public and private schools,” Yerrick said. “I have been blessed with the opportunity to lead and support equity work with some brilliant partners all across the country. In that work, I found the same kind of barriers — racial, gendered, economic, linguistic and others — exist all across the country. We treat them as unique, but they’re really not. They’re widespread and often implicit within the institutional structures we operate within. I think it’s a key time for schools of education and human development like Kremen to be able to come alongside partners to help narrow the gap and make a difference when we have such divisions in our country.”
Yerrick succeeds Interim Dean Laura Alamillo, who accepted the position of dean of the School of Education at Sonoma State University. Alamillo had been with Fresno State since 2004 and had been the interim dean since 2018.
The Kremen School of Education and Human Development prepares the second-most K-12 school teachers of any public university in California, behind Cal State Long Beach. In fall 2019, more than 2,860 students enrolled in the college.
Coming to Fresno State will be a return to California and the CSU system for Yerrick, who was a professor of science teacher education at San Diego State University from 1999 to 2006.
“The Kremen School has already demonstrated an enormous impact on the Fresno community. They are so embedded and influential in the region and state because of the awesome work of the talented and devoted faculty. In teacher education, counseling education, leadership and other areas, the Kremen School has impacted social justice in education already on so many fronts. I look forward to joining the team and contributing to the ongoing mission of the Kremen School.”
A native of Michigan, Yerrick did his undergraduate and graduate studies at Michigan State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, a master’s in curriculum and instruction and his Ph.D. in teaching, policy and practice.
Yerrick has been married to his wife, Metra, for 33 years and has two sons who are both bilingual STEM educators in New York.
