Brigitte Vittrup, PhD, was named the next dean of the College of Professional Education. Having served as interim dean since July 2024, she will officially assume the permanent role on June 1.

Vittrup will continue to build on the college’s momentum. She established a peer-mentoring group to increase student retention. She also moved toward incorporating a competency-based model for some of the college’s programs while also establishing new academic partnerships, both to grow enrollment.

As a professor, Vittrup’s teaching expertise includes child development, research methods, and statistics, and her research focuses on child and family issues and media influences on children. Her research has been featured in academic journals, as well as major news outlets, including the Washington Post, Newsweek and NPR.