The Board of Directors for Georgia Charter Schools Association has selected Dr. Mike Dishman as its newest member. Dishman is a Professor of Education Policy & Governance, and serves as the Dean of The Graduate College at KSU. He is also Associate VP for Research Policy and Compliance. Professor Dishman’s career started in 1996, when he began providing legal representation to public school districts, with a particular emphasis on labor and employment issues in the educational context. Between 1996 and 2012, he served as an associate, of counsel, or partner in several education-focused law firms.
While working at his legal practice, he served as an Assistant Professor of Education Law and Ethics at the University of Alaska (1998-2001) and an Associate Professor at Kennesaw State University (2005-2012). He also served as coordinator of the master’s degree program in educational leadership (2009-11), and interim chair of the Department (2011-12). He was named chair of the Department after a national search in 2012. On October 1, 2014, he was named as the first Associate Dean of the University’s Graduate College, which oversees all University graduate programs.
He was the Chair of the Department of Educational Leadership when KSU became the region’s first program to tailor school leadership preparation programs for service in traditional public, public charters, and independent schools, and was co-principal investigator on a U.S. Department of Education/Georgia Department of Education Innovation Grant to develop and deliver a joint preparation program for highly promising leaders in traditional public and public charter schools. The program received approximately 129 applications for 15 slots.
Since 2005, Professor Dishman co-authored six books and a number of articles on education law, leadership and policy. In 2009, one of his books, Leading Schools During Crisis, a study of crisis behaviors by school administrators, was selected by the American Association of School Administrators as one of seven 2009 publications meriting an “author discussion session” at the 2010 National Conference on Education. He consults nationally on issues of education policy and law, is a frequently requested speaker on the topic at state, national, and international conferences.
Professor Dishman holds a juris doctorate from the University of Mississippi and a doctorate in education leadership and policy from Peabody College, Vanderbilt University. He was admitted by examination to the state bars of Mississippi, Alaska and Georgia.
