UCSB Appoints Jill Sharkey as Interim Dean of the Graduate School of Education

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SANTA BARBARA – Jill Sharkey, Professor of School Psychology at UC Santa Barbara, has been appointed Interim Dean of the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education. UCSB Chancellor Henry Yang made the announcement on July 1, following the retirement of Jeffrey Milem, who served as the Gevirtz School Dean for nine years. A search for the next dean is currently underway. 

Sharkey joined the Gevirtz School as a postdoc in 2003 and is currently a Professor of School Psychology in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology. She received her Ph.D in Education from UCSB in 2003, and earned the distinction of Nationally Certified School Psychologist. 

Her research has focused on vulnerable youth and young adults, and has included the study of innovations in diversion of youth and adults from the criminal justice system; examining school response to youths at-risk for gang involvement; and innovation in justice response to females on probation.

The impact of her research has transformed the juvenile justice system for girls by improving services while reducing the juvenile hall population. She has also studied the impact of community-based wrap-around care for those who have been commercially sexually exploited.

In 2022, Sharkey received the Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award for exemplary quality of graduate mentoring from UC Santa Barbara’s Academic Senate. She previously served as Acting Dean of the Gevirtz School from October 2023 to January 2024.

Active in the local community, Sharkey is an Executive Committee Member and Strategy Team Member of the South Coast Youth Safety Partnership (2011 to present); Elected Member of the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council of Santa Barbara County (2008 to present); and a Core and Evaluation Team member of the District Attorney’s Human Trafficking Task Force. In 2021, Sharkey and her research team were awarded the Community Collaboration Award by the Channel Islands YMCA Youth & Family Services Branch.