College Administration
Dean

James Meza, Jr., Ph.D.

Dean and Professor, Educational Leadership, Counseling, & Foundations

March 19, 2008
NPR interviews Dean Meza and charter school personnel. Click here for the story.

Dr. James Meza, Jr., Dean and Professor of Educational Leadership at the College of Education and Human Development at the University of New Orleans, providing leadership for all faculty and academic programs as well as overseeing administrative services for more than 3,000 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs. Jim Meza’s background includes state and national experience in policy development and education reform. He has served as the Executive Director of the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), the chief policy making body for PK-12 education in Louisiana.  He also has served as the Interim State Superintendent of Education for the State of Louisiana and was the first educational leader to be appointed to such a position following a constitutional amendment. He is the former Chair of the UNO Department of Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Foundations.

At the national level, he was the founding Chair of the National Policy Board for the Accelerated Schools Project at the University of Connecticut.  During the last 10 years, he has conducted research nationally on comprehensive school reform in urban settings. This experience became the major theme of more than 40 refereed journal articles and book chapters. In addition, he was able to secure more than $20 million to further his research focusing school reform for children of poverty and charter schools.

Recently, Dr. Meza spearheaded UNO’s takeover of Pierre A. Capdau, a failing school in Orleans Parish and redefined the role of universities by assuming responsibility for the academic outcomes of kindergarten through twelfth grades students in public schools. Currently the college is managing and providing technical assistance for four charter schools. As a result of the early successes of the school takeover initiative the U.S. Congress has awarded Dr. Meza $4 million to advance his work. The UNO College of Education and Human Development received a $900,000, a competitive grant award from the Louisiana Board of Regents to support its PK-12 partnership with its charter schools. Finally, Dr. Meza received $1million from Capital One to develop a Charter School Center that will support the development a PK-16 charter school network.  Dr. Meza is the recipient of the Education Innovator of the Year 2005 Award presented by New Orleans City Business.

Dr. Meza is the founder of UNO Teach Greater New Orleans  (TGNO), a non-traditional alternative fast-paced path to teacher certification which is addressing the critical shortage of teachers in the area’s school districts. The program recruits high quality mid-career professionals who have a passion and ability to work with high poverty children in schools. Since the inception of the program three years ago, TGNO has placed more than 200 highly qualified teachers in urban schools in the critical shortage areas of math, science, special education and middle schools in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes.  TGNO has made a significant contribution in UNO receiving an A+ Teacher Education Program rating by the Louisiana Board of Regents.

Education

B.S., Loyola University of New Orleans; Business Administration, 1970

M.Ed., Nicholls State University; Educational Administration, 1975

Ph.D., University of New Orleans; Educational Administration, 1981

External Links

A Headstart for Kids (Gambit)

New Orleans Turnaround Team (Biz News)

WDSU Meza Capdau LEAP

Capdau Takeover Lauded

Capdau News Summary