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New Education Dean Ready to Serve Students

Last Updated on September 12, 2018 at 12:00 PM

Originally published September 12, 2018

By Daniel Perez

UTEP Communications

Raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Clifton Tanabe knew about The University of Texas at El Paso from its days as a Western Athletic Conference rival to the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UH).

Clifton Tanabe, Ph.D., came to UTEP with extensive leadership experience in higher education and a research focus on educational access, affirmative action and social power in education.
Clifton "Clif" Tanabe, Ph.D., came to UTEP with extensive leadership experience in higher education and a research focus on educational access, affirmative action and social power in education. Photo: J.R. Hernandez/UTEP Communications

Clifton "Clif" Tanabe, Ph.D., came to UTEP with extensive leadership experience in higher education and a research focus on educational access, affirmative action and social power in education. Photo: J.R. Hernandez/UTEP Communications

As a higher education professor, researcher and administrator, he learned more about the University through the national attention it received for its successful access and excellence model and its leadership role with the El Paso Collaborative for Academic Excellence, a community partnership hailed for its transformational education reforms.

“That was truly a powerful light for me,” said Tanabe, Ph.D., new dean of UTEP’s College of Education as of July 1, 2018. “I saw what some folks who come together could pull off. It was very impressive.”

Tanabe said he was excited and grateful to be at UTEP to serve its students and those of the larger El Paso community. He also looks forward to contributing to the growth of the college and the University.

The Indiana native came to UTEP from UH, where he taught educational policy and law and was a lecturer in law at the university’s William S. Richardson School of Law. He served in the chancellor’s office as director for institutional transformation and executive assistant chief of staff. He also directed the Leaders for the Next Generation Program and co-directed the Hawaii Educational Policy Center.

Tanabe earned his doctorate in educational policy studies (1998) and a law degree (2004) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his Master of Education in educational foundations from UH in 1994 and his bachelor’s degree in humanities from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, in 1988.