Professional Biography
Kathy Rho is associate director of the Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, an executive-style degree program for leaders across pre-K–12 education. She also teaches in the program. Previously, she was a visiting lecturer in the Bryn Mawr/Haverford Educational Program at Bryn Mawr College.
Dr. Rho began her career in education teaching multiple levels of high school science before serving as an education program manager for a state-wide workforce development and education agency. She has worked with a number of initiatives focused on alternative education, afterschool programming, and culturally responsive pedagogy. Her past projects have also focused on curriculum design and professional development for teachers and system-level leaders working with youth in the juvenile justice system and institutionalized care. Over the years, she has mentored teachers and leaders working in a diverse and wide range of educational contexts and at varying stages of their careers.
Kathy received her doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Pennsylvania, a master’s in education from Harvard University, and her bachelor’s degree from Smith College. She currently serves as Penn GSE’s Plenum Session Representative (PSR) for the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) and is a long-time member of the American Counseling Association (ACA).
Dr. Rho’s current research interests focus on the influence of social identities on school leadership thinking and practice and on reflective practice, more generally, at the individual and organizational level. Her work has centered on leader and teacher education and development as well as network building and educational reform. She currently leads an interdisciplinary research team exploring the use of in-person simulations in school leadership development and training, the Standardized Professionals (SPs) and School Principals pilot study, which began in 2018 and is a collaboration between Penn GSE and Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine. Other areas of knowledge and interest include school and community collaborations, youth and family social and health service access and education, and cross-cultural issues with particular focus on those involving Asian and Asian American youth.
Recent publications include an afterword entitled “Leadership Development for Critical Leadership Praxis,” co-authored with Nikole T. Booker, in the edited volume, Critical Leadership Praxis: For Educational and Social Change (Teachers College Press, 2021). She also co-edited Repositioning Educational Leadership: Practitioners Leading from an Inquiry Stance (Teachers College Press, 2018), a volume focused on educational leadership practitioner inquiries with Susan Lytle, James “Torch” Lytle, and Michael Johanek.
