Paula A. Cordeiro is a former teacher, principal and school head in bilingual schools in Venezuela and Spain. From 1998 to 2015 Paula served as Dean of the School of Leadership and Education Sciences at the University of San Diego. She is currently the Dammeyer Distinguished Professor of Global Leadership and Education in the Kroc School of Peace Studies. From 2015-2019 she served as the VP for education at Edify (an international NGO working with schools receiving micro-loans) where she worked in Sub-Saharan Africa and Central/South America.
Paula is currently chairs the board of The Burnham Center for Community Advancement (San Diego), and is a board member for the Conrad Prebys Foundation (San Diego) and BEST (Building Engineering and Science Talent) Washington DC.
She is a former board member of the USS Midway Museum, Davis College (Rwanda), the New Bedford (MA) Whaling Museum, the Community Technical Assistant Center (Boston), James Irvine Foundation (CA), the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, the International Council on Education for Teaching, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, past president of the San Diego Council on Literacy, and a founding member of the Academy for International School Heads. Additionally, she is a past president of the University Council for Educational Administration, and in 1998 the Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management awarded her a fellowship. Formerly she served on the Advisory Boards of Davis College Akilah Global Innovation Council (Rwanda), MANA de San Diego, Barrio Logan College Institute (BLCI), the James Irvine Foundation and the San Diego Center for Children. In 2014 she received the Classroom of the Future Foundation’s Visionary Leadership Award and in 2016 the Luso-American Foundation’s Global Action Award. In 2001 she received the Distinguished Alumnus Award, College of Education, University of Houston
Paula is the author of numerous articles and three books including: Educational Leadership- A Bridge to Improved Practice now in its’ fifth edition.
cordeiro@sandiego.edu @DeanCordeiro Linkedin
