Jennifer King Rice

For over 25 years, Jennifer King Rice has served on the faculty and in college leadership roles at the University of Maryland. In her previous role as the dean of UMD’s College of Education, Rice focused her efforts to align educational resources with key initiatives to advance excellence, equity and social justice in preschool through graduate school. Upon becoming dean, she led the College of Education community through an inclusive strategic planning process, which has resulted in new and innovative initiatives to promote the College’s shared values, vision and goals. Her emphasis on college-level research infrastructure, enhancements in instructional programming and diversity, equity and inclusion have propelled the college forward in reputation and rankings during her tenure.

As a national expert in education finance and policy, Rice regularly consults with policy organizations and agencies at the state and federal levels. She has been a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and a visiting fellow at the Urban Institute. She is currently a fellow of the National Education Policy Center, and served as president of the Association of Education Finance and Policy. She sits on two charter school boards, is a University System of Maryland representative on the Maryland State Teacher Certification Advisory Council, and recently co-chaired the Association of American Universities Annual Deans meeting. Dr. Rice also served as co-chair of the Maryland Education Deans and Directors Council.