Mark L’Esperance is professor of education and dean of James Madison University’s College of Education since July 1, 2019. The College currently has more than 300 full and part time faculty and staff, 3,000 students in teacher licensure programs, and over 30 initial licensure programs. In addition to teacher preparation, the College also houses 200 cadets in Army Reserve Officer Training Corps, and graduate programs spanning 12 areas including Human Resource Development, Educational Leadership, Educational Technology, and TESOL. L’Esperance previously was professor and chair of the Department of Elementary Education and Middle Grades Education at East Carolina University, where he was also the lead faculty administrator for the East Carolina University Community School. L’Esperance joined the faculty at ECU in 1998 and has presented and published extensively at the state, national and international levels. L’Esperance has worked with public-school systems in coaching hundreds of administrators related to strategic planning and instructional leadership. L’Esperance’s graduate studies included doctoral work at Indiana University and earning a Ph.D. in 1998 from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. He is a native of Lynn, Massachusetts.