Robert B. Everhart and his wife, Shelley Everhart at the Dean’s Scholarship Celebration in 2018.
Robert B. Everhart, former dean of the College of Education and professor emeritus of education, has passed away. Dean of the College of Education (then the School of Education) from 1986 to 1998, Everhart was the longest-serving dean in the college’s history to date. Through his remarkable leadership, strategic vision, and excellence as an educator he had a significant impact on the college, and as a result, the quality of education in Oregon schools.
One of Everhart’s most significant contributions to the College of Education may be the Portland Teachers Program (PTP). Everhart led the creation of the program to help address the need for more primary teachers of color. Created as a collaboration between PSU, Portland Community College (PCC), and Portland Public Schools (PPS), and eventually expanded to include the Beaverton School District, the program provided counseling and scholarship support for students at PCC and on to PSU, and included engagement with potential future teachers academies for middle-high school students. The highly successful program has continued for more than thirty years, preparing hundreds of teachers of color who have taught in local schools.
“Bob was the guiding light behind the establishment of the PTP. He felt strongly that it is essential for teachers to reflect the racial diversity of their students. I remember being part of the extensive planning process from 1987 through the program launch in 1989 to establish the program details and funding for this unprecedented collaboration,” said Mary Kinnick, professor emerita, Educational Policy, Foundations & Administrative Studies, who served as Assistant Dean to Everhart from 1986-1989. “I believe this program was one of Bob’s proudest career accomplishments. I’m pleased that the program, while currently being refreshed and potentially renamed, will continue.”
Everhart dramatically expanded the college’s offerings by designing and implementing community- and faculty-identified programs, beyond the cooperative education and noncredit workshops previously offered.
Cheryl Livneh, professor emerita and previous Associate Dean for Outreach, was hired by Everhart in 1987 as the Director of Continuing Education.
“Bob drove the development of the School of Education’s own continuing education programs,” Livneh remembers. “We ultimately offered programs around the state. This not only generated thousands of student credit hours, which generated funding for the School; it also expanded our connections and influence throughout Oregon.”
Everhart’s innovative initiatives during his tenure as dean included expanding the college’s focus on research. For example, from 1988-1993 he and Gary Nave established CURE, a research center funded by the state that developed white papers on a variety of PK-12 educational topics.
Randy Hitz, Dean Emeritus of the College of Education and senior fellow, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, noted, “As someone who served as dean many years after Bob’s tenure, I appreciated and admired his legacy. He made great advances in moving the COE forward as the university became more involved in research. In addition to starting a research program with PPS that was funded by the legislature, he also hired many outstanding faculty members with terrific records of scholarship who were leaders in their field.”
Everhart also created a program that made small grants to support faculty research. Kinnick remembered, “As a result, several faculty members made progress on significant research that they might not have done otherwise, such as Colin Dunkeld, who was able to progress his research resulting in the creation of the Reading Recovery program.”
In addition to all of the important contributions he made during his tenure as dean, Everhart also served the college in other roles, including doctoral coordinator, leading the college’s first cohort of superintendents, and as a professor emeritus.
Gayle Y. Thieman, associate professor in the College of Education, who was one of Everhart’s doctoral students, shared this: “I am grateful for the inspiring leadership of my advisor, Dr. Robert Everhart, who first encouraged me to choose the doctoral program at Portland State University. His wise counsel and critical review of endless drafts of my dissertation were invaluable to me. I fell in love with PSU and the Graduate School of Education (now COE) and consider it my second home as a tenured professor.”
Rick Hardt, professor emeritus, College of Education, who served as Associate Dean to Everhart, described the feelings shared by many of his colleagues. “Bob was a great administrator/member-of-the-team type, always positive and supportive. When he (totally out of the blue) announced his retirement, we were all in shock! Nobody wanted to believe it; no one wanted him to leave.”
Another former colleague, William Greenfield, professor emeritus, offered this summary of Everhart’s wide-ranging, positive impact. “Dean Everhart was a classic scholar-administrator, recognized nationally by his peers as a significant contributor to expanding the knowledge base in the field of educational administration. He was viewed by his many doctoral students as a thoughtful and helpful guide in providing the needed stimulation, encouragement, and support as they undertook their dissertation research. Dean Everhart was highly regarded by colleagues in the Graduate School of Education and in departments across the university.”