Tamara Lucas is a Professor, Academic Affairs, and most recently served as Dean of the College of Education and Human Services, having previously served as Acting Dean, Associate Dean, and Professor in the Department of Educational Foundations. Prior to coming to Montclair State University, Dr. Lucas was a Director and Senior Researcher at the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching (NCREST) at Teachers College, Columbia University. Before that, she was a Researcher at ARC Associates in Oakland, CA, where she conducted research on bilingual learners and was director of a center that supported educators in Northern California school districts regarding the education of English language learners. She was a founding member and is now co-chair of the steering committee of Education Deans for Justice and Equity (EDJE) and was a member of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) Task Force on Teacher Education. She has served as annual conference program section co-chair for American Educational Research Association Division G and Division K and as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Institute of New Jersey.

Dr. Lucas has been at Montclair State University during a period of significant change, as the university transitioned from being a master’s level institution to a doctoral research (R2) university. In that time, she served as the first faculty University IRB Chair, facilitated development of doctoral programs, and participated in writing some significant grant proposals. She has also contributed to the development of innovative teacher preparation programs, particularly those designed to prepare teachers for urban schools. She helped create the highly regarded Newark-Montclair Urban Teacher Residency Program.

Dr. Lucas’ scholarship explores the education of culturally and linguistically diverse students and the preparation of their teachers. She has published three books and numerous articles and book chapters. Her early scholarship examined the nature of high schools that were successful in educating language minority students. In collaboration with Ana Maria Villegas, she articulated a vision for the preparation of culturally responsive teachers. More recently, she has elaborated and refined her concept of linguistically responsive teaching through her 2011 book, Teacher Preparation for Linguistically Diverse Classrooms: A Resource for Teacher Educators (Routledge); through articles (several co-authored with Ana Maria Villegas) in journals such as the Journal of Teacher Education, Educational Forum, and Theory Into Practice; and through chapters in such publications as the Handbook of Research on Teacher Education: Enduring Issues in Changing Contexts (Eds. Cochran-Smith, Feiman-Nemser, & McIntryre, 2008); and the 1993 and 2010 Yearbooks of the National Society for the Study of Education (Eds. Arias & Casanova; and Faltis & Vales, respectively).