Douglas Sears

Associate Provost and Assistant to the President; Director, Division of Military Education; Professor, School of Education, Department of Educational Leadership & Development
BA, Bates College; MA, Lehigh University; PhD, Pennsylvania State University

Dr. Sears chaired the University-wide strategic planning initiative launched in spring 2006 by University President Robert Brown; the work of the planning task force led to the adoption of the University’s strategic plan, Choosing to Be Great. Dr. Sears also chaired the University’s most recent New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) ten-year re-accreditation effort. During the nearly twenty years of the Boston University/Chelsea Partnership, under which the University managed the public schools of Chelsea, Massachusetts, Dr. Sears was the principal University administrator overseeing the partnership’s work, serving variously as chairman and vice chairman of the University’s Management Team, and as superintendent from 1995 to 2000. During this period, the first clear and documented academic achievement gains were posted, the administrative operations of the district were made systematic and professional, and the team led by Dr. Sears brought the district into full compliance with state and federal regulations. Based on his extensive education reform experience and his understanding of curriculum and instruction, Dr. Sears was named dean ad interim of the School of Education in 2001 and dean in 2003. During his tenure, he led an initiative to reduce the overall faculty teaching load from six to five courses per year in order to facilitate academic research, expanded SED development efforts and alumni outreach, and implemented needed facilities renovations, among other initiatives. While serving as dean, he was invited by U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige to serve on the Department’s Teacher Quality Assistance Corps. Since returning to Boston University’s central administration, Dr. Sears has remained directly involved in public education reform, providing advice to Mass Insight’s Education and Research Institute on its school turnaround initiative and overseeing Boston University’s engagement with the Boston Public Schools, particularly the Step UP Initiative. From 1988 to 1995, Dr. Sears served on the senior staff of former University President John Silber, where he became chief of staff. Prior to joining Boston University, Dr. Sears served for four years as an American diplomat in the U.S. embassies in the Philippines and Switzerland, earning tenure and the Department of State’s Meritorious Honor Award. He has served on the board of the American-Swiss Foundation since 1998. For his work fostering American-Swiss friendship and his public education work in Chelsea, Massachusetts, Dr. Sears was named in 2009 as the 43rd winner of the Julius A. Stratton Prize for Intercultural Achievement, an award named for long-serving MIT Provost and President Julius Stratton. Dr. Sears shares this honor with John Kenneth Galbraith, Charles Stark Draper, Maestro Roman Totenberg, and a number of distinguished diplomats from America and Europe.