Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor Karen Hollebrands ’95MED Named Interim Associate Dean for Research and Innovation 

Professor of Mathematics Education and Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor Karen Hollebrands ’95MED will serve as the NC State College of Education’s interim associate dean for research and innovation, effective July 15.

“Dr. Hollebrands is a meticulous researcher and has a wealth of experience with grant-funded projects and high needs schools, a deep knowledge of our college and a passion for our land-grant mission and our new call to action to become an anti-racist college,” said NC State College of Education Dean Mary Ann Danowitz. “While supporting these initiatives, Dr. Hollebrands will ensure we sustain the record growth in research and scholarship our college has experienced over the past few years with increased collaboration and partnerships.”

Hollebrands joined the NC State College of Education in 2001 as an assistant professor of mathematics education and became a full professor in 2014. She was inducted into the Academy of Outstanding Teachers at NC State in 2009, was named an Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor in 2014, and a University Faculty Scholar in 2015. She has served in various leadership roles for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE), and the North America Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. She currently serves as the Editor of the Mathematics Teacher Educator.

Hollebrands’ research examines the mathematical understandings students and teachers develop when using technology. She also designs and studies the use of technology-based curricula to support teacher learning, which have been implemented nation-wide. Since 2001, she has been involved with several funded research projects including Preparing to Teach Mathematics with Technology, MOOCs for Educators, Technology-Rich Units for Future Secondary Teachers, and the North Carolina High School Mathematics Master Teacher Fellows program.

Hollebrands earned her bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education-Mathematics from the State University of New York at Oswego and Master of Education in Mathematics Education from our college. Before completing her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from The Pennsylvania State University, Dr. Hollebrands taught high school mathematics in New York and North Carolina.

Hollebrands will assume the interim role of associate dean for research and innovation when current Associate Dean Paola Stzajn, after providing high impact leadership in the College of Education, returns to the faculty in the college’s Department of Teacher Education and Learning Sciences and becomes a special assistant for faculty research and development with the Office of the Provost and the university’s Office of Research and Innovation.