Patrick Sexton, the Assistant Dean for Teacher Preparation and Undergraduate Education and a Senior Fellow at Penn GSE, has helped countless students cross the Commencement stage to begin a new chapter in their lives. However, in May, Sexton joyfully joined Penn GSE grads in crossing the stage himself—this time as a newly minted Ed.D. graduate from the Executive Doctorate in Higher Education Leadership program. The two-year cohort-based program brings together senior leaders from higher education, government, non-profit organizations, and the private sector to become a driving force in education.
Sexton was initially recruited to Penn GSE in 2020 from the University of Washington, where he was the Assistant Dean for Teacher Education. For the past five years, he has been working with faculty and staff to re-imagine and re-shape Penn GSE’s three teacher ed programs (UTAP, UTR, ISTR). A few years in, he decided to begin working toward a doctorate, which was the first moment in his career, between family and work obligations, he says, “when I could take the time to do it.”
What he never imagined was how quickly the foundational knowledge he was acquiring in his Ed.D. program would translate to his work with Penn GSE’s teacher education programs. Each of the three programs are distinct by design—and Sexton has been able to strengthen program leadership and support pivots in curriculum to meet the rapidly evolving needs of education—from generative AI to coping with a teen mental health crisis to engaging in civic discourse.
“The Executive Doctorate in Higher Education Leadership program fed my daily work in unexpected ways,” says Sexton. “I could put more pillars of knowledge underneath the work I was doing and was given the space and encouragement to lean into strategic thinking. I’m deeply appreciative of my leadership team, who supported me and who have been truly collaborative with moving in new directions. Exec Doc gave me the knowledge and skills I need to create more connectivity for our work across the Penn campus.”
Sexton is also the Certification Officer for the University, serving as the liaison to the Pennsylvania Department of Education and dealing with issues related to state licensure for all Penn prepared educators. In July, he was promoted from Executive Director to Assistant Dean of Teacher Preparation and Undergraduate Education and Senior Fellow at Penn GSE. His role has been expanded to include oversight of GSE’s work with Penn undergraduates.
“I’m excited to fulfill Dean Strunk’s strategic vision—from preparing a highly-skilled educator workforce to connecting cutting-edge research to practice. It is such a pleasure to work with the school’s extraordinary faculty to collectively contribute to the field of educator prep. At the moment, I’m perhaps most excited about reinvigorating Penn GSE’s undergraduate pathway to secondary teacher certification and creating more pathways for undergrads to engage with education issues through GSE—and potentially enter the field through our wide swath of graduate degrees. I am working for GSE to become as relevant as we can to the rest of Penn.”
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