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LARS G. BJORK, Ph.D., University of New Mexico

Dr. Björk, is a Professor and Chair in the Department of Educational Leadership Studies at the University of Kentucky. Since 2004 he has served as a Co-director of the International Symposium on Educational Reform (ISER). In 2011, the Ministry of Education (PRC) appointed him as an adjunct professor in the National Training Center for Secondary School Principals (Shanghai). He was a Fulbright Scholar (2009) in Finland where he assisted in conducting the first national study of school superintendents. He was the founding Director of the Institute for Educational Research (IER) and the Center for Professional Development in the College of Education, University of Kentucky. He was the Co-Director of the University Council for Educational Administration’s Center for the Study of the Superintendence (1998-2008). Dr. Björk also served as a Senior Associate Editor of Educational Administration Quarterly (1999-2005) and presently is a member of the Editorial Boards of the South African Journal of Education, Journal of Thought, and the Journal of School Public Relations. He has co-edited several books including Higher Education Research and Public Policy (1988), Minorities in Higher Education (1994), and The New Superintendency: Advances in Research and Theories of School Management and Educational Policy (2001, with C. C. Brunner) and The Contemporary Superintendent: Preparation, Practice and Development  (2005 with Theodore Kowalski). In addition, he has co-authored, The Study of the American Superintendency 2000: A look at the Superintendent of Education in the New Millennium (2000, with T. Glass and C.C. Brunner), The Superintendent as CEO: Standards-based Performance (2005-with J. Hoyle, T. Glass & L. Collier) and is a contributing author in The School Superintendent: Theory, Practice, and Cases (2005, Theodore Kowalski). In addition, he has served as guest editor for special issues including: Education and Urban Society (1993), “Minorities in Higher Education”; Educational Administration Quarterly (2000) “Women in the Superintendency”; and, The Journal of School Leadership (2003), “The Superintendent Shortage: Myth and Reality”. Dr. Björk has holds Ph.D. and Ed. S. Degrees in Educational Administration, Master of Arts Degree in Public Administration, A Master of Education Degree in Secondary Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Education from the University of New Mexico. In addition to serving as a consultant to Universities in the United States, Europe and China, school districts, state governments, national associations, and international agencies. He has been a member of advisory, coordinating committees, and task forces in the United States Department of Education and presented keynote addresses at international conferences on educational leadership.

His areas of academic interest and expertise include leadership, the superintendency, organizational change, educational reform, organizational theory, school-university collaboration, and qualitative research methodology.