Four finalists have been named to fill a position of dean of the College of Education at Iowa State. The finalists will visit campus in December and January.

Finalists include Sandra Bowman Damico, director of the division of educational studies at Emory University in Atlanta; Walter Gmelch, interim dean of the College of Education at Washington State University in Pullman; Paula Short, chair of the department of educational leadership and policy analysis at the University of Missouri, Columbia; and Les Sternberg, dean of the College of Education and Human Development at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

Norene Daly, former dean of education, stepped down in July 1996 to return to teaching in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Camilla Benbow, professor of psychology, is serving as interim dean.

The dates of visits and open forums of the four candidates will be announced in the next few weeks.

Damico just completed a four-year appointment as director of the division of educational studies at Emory.

Prior to that, she worked for 24 years at the University of Florida, Gainesville. While there, she served as director of research at the university’s K-12 laboratory school, as an associate professor in the Department of Behavioral Studies and as associate and full professors in the Department of Educational Foundations.

For 10 years, she served as section head of the social foundations faculty within the foundations’ department. She also spent five years as coordinator of educational-process studies for The Ohio Education Association, Columbus.

Her research interest is at-risk students and the effect of policies and practices on their learning experiences.

Damico received a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s in educational research and evaluation from Ohio State University and a Ph.D. in social foundations of education from the University of Florida, Gainesville.

Gmelch was named interim dean of the College of Education at Washington State in August.

He has been a faculty member there for 27 years, serving as director of teacher education and certification and director of administrative programs for the college.

He served twice in associate dean appointments, chaired two departments and served as interim chair of a third department.

Gmelch also was president of GTS Airfreight, San Francisco, for two years and associate director of the Field Training and Service Bureau in the College of Education at the University of Oregon, Eugene, for three years.

One of his current research interests is the workload, stress levels and burn-out of Washington school administrators.

Gmelch has a bachelor’s in political science from Stanford University, Calif., a master’s from the University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. from the Educational Executive Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Short has served as professor and department chair of educational leadership and policy analysis at the University of Missouri since 1995. Previously, she was program chair of educational administration at Pennsylvania State University, College Park and associate professor and graduate-program officer in educational leadership at Auburn University, Ala.

Short is a former school principal and junior high language arts teacher in Durham, N.C. and fourth-grade teacher in Greensboro, N.C.

Her research interests are in the areas of empowerment for teachers and schools, and leadership training for principals.

Short received a B.A. in elementary education from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, and a master’s in middle grades education and a Ph.D. in educational administration and supervision from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Sternberg has served as dean of the College of Education and Human Development at Bowling Green State University since 1994.

Previously, he was an associate dean in Iowa State’s College of Education for three years. He spent almost 11 years at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, serving as associate and full professors, director of several training programs for teachers of severely disabled students and chair of the department of exceptional student education.

Sternberg has also been on the faculties of a couple other universities and taught junior high special education in Windsor, Conn.

His research interest is in education for severely handicapped students.

Sternberg received a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master’s in special education and a Ph.D. in educational psychology, all from the University of Connecticut, Stoors.