College of Education

Welcome to the College of Education at Slippery Rock University!

Whether you are an interested student, current student, or an alumnus, there is a lot our college has to offer you.

We are a college that:

Garnered the largest-ever planned estate gift made to SRU (2024). This gift to the College of Education was made by Dave and Judy Phillips who pledged a $2 million bequest that will fund scholarships and programming to support our RockTEACH program or underrepresented minority students pursuing careers as teachers.
Reached a 12-year high in enrollment in the College of Education at 2,034(2023)
Was awarded the Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement award. SRU was one of 21 colleges and universities in the world recognized with this award for excellence in educator preparation by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (2023)
Earned the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) National Accreditation for our Counseling Program, no areas for improvement cited (2022)
Earned the Council of the Accreditation of Education Programs (CAEP) full 7-year national accreditation, no areas for improvement cited (2022)
Produced the most Instructional I certified teachers out of 98 Universities in PA with teacher education (2021)
Landed 62% of our graduates full-time jobs in their field (2017)
Created our first ever doctoral degree in Special Education (2014)
Created a Master's Degree in Technology for Online Instruction (2014)
Created a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership and Administration.
Created an online Principal Certification Program (Fall, 2020)
Drove, and continue to drive, efforts to promote teacher diversity, equity, and inclusivity ( RockTeach).
Earned Counseling Center accreditation in 2015
Secured over $1.8 million in grant funding since 2012 (Most recently the PA Dept. of Ed. Troops-to-Teachers Grant, awarded 2017-2023)
Awarded 133 Professor Protégé fellowships which awarded qualified freshman with $800 in stipends and a new iPad
Produced graduates who are winning awards and making a difference.
Attracted award-winning faculty.

Garnered the following recognitions:

College of Education was ranked 2nd in PA in 2016 by tobecometeacher.org
Special Education program was ranked 10th best in the U.S. out of 425 qualifying colleges in 2016 by http://www.teacher.org
Early Childhood program was ranked 19th best in the U.S. out of 425 qualifying colleges in 2016 by http://www.teacher.org
Counseling program, which merged with the counseling center, was ranked 5th in the state in 2016 by topcounselingschools.org
Physical and Health Education transition programs, including the Rock Life and Transition Achievement Program, which provide college and high school students who have intellectual or development disabilities with life-skills training and prepares them for competitive employment, was selected to receive the 2018 ACHIEVA Awards of Excellence for Professional Service
Online master's degree in math education program- secondary education: math/science with STEM concentration- was ranked by OnlineMasters.com as one of the "best online master's in math education programs" for 2019
Online master's degree in history was ranked as one of the top 25 programs in the country by TheBestSchools.org for 2018

I wish you all the best of luck in whatever way you chose to participate in the COE!

Dr. Keith Dils
Dean, College of Education

Dils speaking on podium

Mission Statement

The College of Education's mission is to prepare teacher candidates and related professionals for service in a diverse global community. Within this context, teaching, scholarship, and service are viewed as a triad in which teaching is enlightened by scholarship and applied through service.

Vision for the College of Education

The Underlying Vision of the College of Education embraces and upholds The Vision of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) whose ultimate commitment is to prepare students from diverse backgrounds to lead productive and meaningful lives by becoming academically, socially and economically successful locally, regionally and globally. Together, this match in vision between the College of Education and PASSHE is in concert with the vision of our University: Slippery Rock University will excel as a caring community of lifelong learners connecting with the world. The University and College of Education's shared mission and vision work reciprocally to provide high quality instruction through a mission of service that connects scholarship in traditional and non-traditional classrooms which is supported by technology initiatives enjoyed by both teachers and students alike.