March 3, 2022

Dear College of Education community,

As you know, this week the University celebrated the establishment of the Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health, a remarkable new Portland-based institute that is designed to serve the behavioral health needs of K-12 students and create partnerships to support state-of-the-science prevention and intervention, research, and workforce development. This Institute is an incredible opportunity for our College of Education to be deeply involved expanding our service on behalf of Oregon children and youth. Provost Phillips asked Randy Kamphaus to serve as Acting Director of the Ballmer Institute and appointed me as Interim Dean of the College of Education. As you can imagine, it’s been a busy week! 

I want to take a moment to thank Randy Kamphaus for his leadership on behalf of the College of Education. Randy has served as dean since 2014. Under his leadership we have grown our faculty, expanded our research portfolio, recruited more students, grown our programs, and enhanced our focus on issues of equity and inclusion. I also wish to thank Julie Wren for her incredible service to the College of Education as Assistant Dean for Accreditation and Academic Operations and TSPC Liaison. Julie Wren has been named the Assistant Director of the Ballmer Institute and will bring a wealth of knowledge to that role that will benefit the Institute, our COE, the UO, and state. Congratulations to both Randy and Julie! We look forward to our work with you in your new roles! 

I’m honored to serve the college as interim dean and am humbled at the work before us. I am deeply committed to our college and know that the people – our faculty, staff, and students – are the heartbeat of our college. I wish to extend my gratitude to those of you who have supported me over the past 13+ years here and I look forward to expanding my work to include each one of you on this list.

I came to the University of Oregon in 2009 (prior to that I was a faculty member at Syracuse University in NY). I have served the institution in a variety of roles over the years, including program director of school psychology, department head of special education and clinical sciences, director of prevention science institute, and trustee of the university’s governance board. I’m passionate about my work with students and colleagues and know that we can do more when we have genuine partnerships and collaboration. My team and I focus our research on prevention and intervention of developmental, academic, and behavioral health problems in young children with or at-risk for disabilities using family-centered approaches. Through my work in early childhood and K-12 settings, I value strength-based strategies to promote positive outcomes for students, families, and educational professionals.

I’ll end on a personal note. I have many identities, but two that I hold dear to my heart are mom (to Liam & Ella – age 10 & 8 years) and wife (to Bill).

I love being at the College of Education and am thrilled serve you. I look forward to what’s ahead and am trying to get up to speed as quickly as possible!

Sincerely,

Laura Lee

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Laura Lee McIntyre, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Interim Dean & Castle-McIntosh-Knight Professor, College of Education
Pronouns: she/her