Aimée Dorr, the former dean of the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies and provost of the University of California system, died Jan. 25 at her home in South Pasadena, California. She was 83.
A longtime professor of education and academic leader at UCLA, Dorr took the helm of the graduate school in 1999 and over the next 13 years helped transform it into a national leader in both education and information studies. Her vision, centered on the importance of making a difference through scholarship and professional practice, emphasized equity, access and bridge-building that brought the expertise of the school’s faculty and staff into Los Angeles communities.
“As dean, Aimée helped set the course for the newly formed UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, bringing together the departments of education and information studies to pursue research, scholarship and practice within and across their respective fields,” said Christina (Tina) Christie, the Wasserman Dean of the UCLA School of Education & Information Studies. “Her vision and leadership helped our school develop future generations of scholars, teachers, information professionals and institutional leaders and established a powerful commitment to the principles of responsibility and social justice, an ethic of caring, and deep partnership with communities that continue to guide our work today.”
Dorr had a been a faculty member at Stanford and Harvard universities and at the University of Southern California, where she was also associate dean of the Annenberg School of Communications, before joining UCLA as a professor in the education department in 1981 — a decision she said was influenced by UCLA’s “tremendous intellectual resources” and its collaborative approach to research and teaching.
A specialist in child welfare, Dorr’s academic work focused in part on the growing impact of electronic media on children. She was also well known for her expertise in policy analysis and the role of research in policy decision-making.
‘A brilliant scholar and an insightful dean’
Dorr was appointed dean in September 1999, just a few years after UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and its Graduate School of Library and Information Science had merged to form the new Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. (The school, in 2020, dropped “Graduate” from its title to reflect its new undergraduate programs.) Under her leadership, the school rose to national prominence, with both departments earning consistently high rankings among their peer institutions.
“Aimée was a brilliant scholar and an insightful dean,” said Christine Borgman, a distinguished research professor and UCLA’s Presidential Chair in Information Studies, Emerita. “She was committed to the intellectual integration of information studies and education, drawing on her communication scholarship, attending information studies conferences and participating actively in our department.”
“She was extraordinarily dedicated and fair in school and department administrative affairs,” said Anne Gilliland, a professor of information studies and director of the interdisciplinary Center for Information as Evidence at UCLA, launched during Dorr’s tenure. “She always took a keen interest in the research in the information studies department because of her own background working with educational media and technology.”
Dorr’s tenure also saw the school significantly enhance the diversity of its faculty, students and staff, boost graduate enrollment, grow its number of full-time faculty equivalents, and increase financial support for students in its doctoral and professional programs. At the same time, she led important efforts to broaden the school’s engagement with the Los Angeles community.
The graduate school and the city: Connecting with the community
Grounded in social justice and spurred by the idea that all children — including those from low-income and immigrant neighborhoods — have a fundamental right to a high-quality education, the school forged a unique partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District and community advocates that led to the launch, in 2009, of the UCLA Robert F. Kennedy Community School in the Pico-Union/Koreatown area.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for both UCLA and LAUSD to bring big resources, knowledge and energy to the table to provide excellent education to some children in communities that need it the most,” Dorr told UCLA Magazine at the time.
More than 16 years later, the award-winning K–12 pilot school continues to incorporate the expertise of UCLA’s faculty and staff in its development of instructional programs and its mentorship of young people, providing an innovative teaching and learning environment for students, educators and families and contributing to social mobility and a college-going culture.
“I was education department chair while Aimée was dean. Her leadership shaped the development of mine,” said Megan Franke, a professor of education at UCLA whose research supports the work of teachers, schools and communities. “She led the department through exciting and challenging times. She cared deeply about us and our work together in education and information studies, and she worked tirelessly for us.”
Leadership on a systemwide level
Throughout her time at UCLA, Dorr was a committed advocate for the university’s shared governance model and played key roles in academic leadership, serving as co-chair of UCLA’s Academic Preparation and Educational Partnership programs and as vice chair and chair of the UCLA Academic Senate. She was also a faculty representative to the UC Board of Regents and vice chair and chair of the UC-wide Academic Senate.
In July 2012, just days after stepping down as dean of the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies after 13 years — and after nearly 31 years at UCLA — Dorr assumed the role of provost and executive vice president for academic affairs of the University of California, serving as the system’s chief academic officer and leading efforts to ensure the academic excellence of all the UC’s campuses.
“Aimée Dorr is an accomplished leader with superb management skills, strategic vision and a long-standing commitment to expanding educational opportunities for all segments of society,” then–UC President Mark Yudof said in announcing her appointment. “Her inclusive management style and understanding of the University of California at all levels will serve the entire system and each of our 10 campuses very well during these challenging times.”
Dorr would serve in the position until retiring in 2017.
Dorr earned her bachelor’s in mathematics and her master’s and doctorate in psychology from Stanford University. A fellow of the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science, she was also a visiting professor at China’s Beijing Normal University.
Christie paid homage to the formative influence Dorr had on her career as a scholar and dean and on the careers of many of today’s UCLA-trained leaders in K–12 and higher education, library and archival studies, and information services.
“On a personal note,” Christie said, “I remain profoundly grateful for her steady counsel, her generosity of spirit and the quiet confidence she placed in so many of us as we grew into our roles here at UCLA.”
