School of Education
Wesley Pitts, Interim Dean
Dr. Wesley Pitts has been appointed as the new Interim Dean of the School of Education at Lehman College, effective August 16th, 2024.
About Dr. Wesley Pitts
Dr. Wesley Pitts joined Lehman College in 2007 and has made significant contributions to the Department of Middle and High School Education (MHSE), where he is also a Professor. He earned his Ph.D. in Urban Education with a specialization in science education from the CUNY Graduate Center. In addition, he is a distinguished graduate of the Association of American College and Universities Project Kaleidoscope STEM Leadership Institute.
Throughout his time at Lehman, Professor Pitts has held various leadership roles, including serving as the Chair of MHSE and Co-coordinator of the Secondary Science Education Program. He holds a second appointment in the Ph.D. Program in the Urban Education Department at the CUNY Graduate Center. Currently, he is the Principal Investigator (PI) for the NSF Noyce-Framework on the Continuum that Unifies and Strengthens STEM (Focus-On-STEM) and leads Lehman's project on CUNY's Computer Integrated Teacher Education initiative.
Professor Pitts's research focuses on cultural sociology frameworks to investigate how experiences in urban secondary and post-secondary science classrooms, along with science teacher preparation programs, foster success in science education. Before transitioning to higher education, he taught chemistry at the secondary level in New York City.
Zoila, Morell, Associate Dean
“My passion for this work stems from my own experience as an immigrant arriving in the US just in time to begin Kindergarten. I entered school speaking no English. My family struggled with poverty for my entire childhood. At a very personal level, I understand the significance of education in my life, and I want to apply everything I’ve learned to benefit my community. From my love of languages to my love of early childhood education and to my vision of educational leadership, my passions all stem from who I am and how I was shaped by what I overcame.”
Dr. Zoila Morell began at Lehman College in 2018 as an Associate Professor in Early Childhood and Childhood Education and joined the Dean’s office as Interim in 2022. In December of 2023, she was appointed as Associate Dean.
Dr. Morell’s research and scholarship examines bilingual education, school readiness, early childhood education, and conditions impacting educational achievement for Latine children. Her scholarship in early childhood education draws on decades as an early childhood professional and program administrator.
Dr. Morell worked in the public schools for over 15 years. For seven of those years, she was a School Principal where she administered several programs serving over 1,000 children under the age of six. In January of 2010, Dr. Morell received the “Pathways to Leadership” award from the New York State Council of School Superintendents in recognition of her leadership in education.
Dr. Morell obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Urban Education from the City University of New York, Graduate Center, her dissertation studied the effects of bilingual instruction on the emergent literacy skills of Spanish-speaking preschool children. Her study was awarded second place nationally in the “Outstanding Dissertation” competition of the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE). In 2015, Dr. Morell was one of ten educators nationwide selected by Big Picture Learning for the Deeper Learning Equity Fellowship; her work in the fellowship focused on multilingual learners in prekindergarten...read more.
Matriculation and official completion in one of the School of Education's Educator Preparation programs leading to initial or professional certification fulfill the educational requirements for licensure in New York State, as per the final rule published on November 1, 2019 for institutions participating in Federal Student Aid programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act.
