An educator with a strong interest in improving public school education through university research has been tapped as the founding dean of a new School of Education at the University of California, Davis.

Harold G. Levine, professor of education at UCLA, will become dean of education at UC Davis Aug. 15, pending approval by the UC Board of Regents.

As dean, Levine, 55, will lead and shape a new School of Education that builds upon the existing Division of Education. The new school will lead campuswide involvement in K-12 education and will support several innovative programs that link research, instruction and service to K-12 schools. Institutes devoted to research and action in such subjects as mathematics and science, language and literacy, and the social context of schooling will engage a broad spectrum of UC Davis disciplinary faculty. The school's core faculty, eventually to number approximately 35, will be focused on research relevant to California's diverse, multilingual population.

"Professor Levine's research record, leadership experience and strong commitment to meaningful engagement in K-12 education make him the ideal choice for dean," said UC Davis Chancellor Larry N. Vanderhoef. "I am confident that he will be successful in creating a truly transformational school of education -- a school that emerges as a national leader and that engages an unusually broad array of faculty in education-related research. And, in doing so, he will strengthen the Davis campus's longstanding commitment to respond to critically important societal needs."

Levine was selected after a six-month search by a committee of faculty, staff and students that screened more than 80 applications and nominations from across the nation.

"I'm honored to have been selected as founding dean and can't wait to get started," said Levine. "Starting a new professional school, particularly within the University of California, is a very rare event. I'm committed to making the most of this opportunity by working with educators here and throughout the state and with policy-makers in Sacramento to help make every classroom an effective learning environment."

Levine's research interests include culture and cognition, organizational change and development, entrepreneurial education, and naturalistic data collection and data analysis methods.

He served as interim dean of UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies from 1998 to 1999, chair of its Department of Education from 1995 to 1998 and head of its division of social research methodology from 1991 to 1995. He joined UCLA's faculty in 1979 as an assistant professor after serving as a research associate at UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Institute.

Levine is the author of some 40 publications and reports, and the recipient of numerous research, training and professional service grants. He is a fellow of the American Anthropological Association and member of the American Educational Research Association, the Council on Anthropology and Education, the Los Angeles Educational Partnership Board of Directors and the Wildwood School Board of Trustees.

He holds a doctorate in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Northwestern University.