Julie Underwood, Dean
University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education

Julie K. Underwood, a nationally recognized authority on school law, became the eighth dean of the UW-Madison School of Education in August 2005.

Underwood taught at UW-Madison from 1986 to 1995 on the faculty of the Department of Educational Administration (now Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis). She has returned to Madison after serving from 1995 to 1998 as dean of Miami University ’s School of Education and Allied Professions and from 1998 to 2005 as associate executive director and general counsel for the National School Boards Association in Washington , D.C.

At the NSBA, she led a legal advocacy program on behalf of the nation’s public school boards, including producing friend-of-the-court briefs and legal strategies before the U.S. Supreme Court and lower courts. She also was responsible for the 3,000-member Council of School Attorneys.

At UW-Madison, Underwood has served as chair of the Department of Educational Administration (1993-94), associate dean of the School of Education (1994-95), and co-director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Policy at the Robert M. La Follette Institute of Public Affairs (1990-93).

She has co-authored several books, including School Law for Teachers (Prentice Hall, 2005), Legal Aspects of Special Education and Pupil Services (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1994), and The Principal’s Legal Handbook (Education Law Association, 1993).

She has a bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology from DePauw University (1976), a law degree from Indiana University (1979), and a Ph.D. in educational leadership from the University of Florida (1984).

In 2008, she received the Outstanding Educator Award from the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators.

As head of the School of Education, Underwood oversees the third largest college on campus. The School is composed of eight departments and enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduate students each year. About half of the undergraduates are pursuing teacher-preparation programs; the rest are pursuing such programs as art, dance, rehabilitation psychology, and exercise science.

The School also enrolls more than 1,000 graduate students each year. Graduate students play key roles in many of the innovative research projects conducted at the School, and they contribute significantly to its reputation. U.S. News and World Report consistenly ranks the School's graduate programs among the top three in their fields nationally, with the program in Curriculum and Instruction rated No. 1 in the nation almost every year since the rankings began.