Meet Candace R. Kuby: Leading with Community, Collaboration and Purpose

ATLANTA - Effective education extends beyond curriculum - it's rooted in the relationships and daily interactions between educators and students.

That belief has guided Candace R. Kuby throughout her career, from her earliest teaching experiences to her work as a university professor and leader.

This fall, Kuby will bring that approach as the new dean of Georgia State University's College of Education & Human Development.

"As a leader, I strive to build community and I believe that people really matter," she said. "It's important to lead with integrity and shared governance."

Learning From Mentors and Students in Elementary Classrooms

Kuby first learned about the importance of building relationships while working as an early childhood educator. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in early childhood education from The University of Alabama at Birmingham and spent a few years teaching kindergarten and first grade in urban and suburban districts in Alabama.

She had the opportunity to teach students from multiple grade levels in the same classroom, and she connected with mentor teachers to discuss how best to approach working with students in a multigrade setting.

"That experience helped me think about being innovative, pushing the boundaries of the standard ways of schooling and looking at research to inform the work we did in that classroom," she said.

From there, Kuby spent a year in Japan teaching 3- to 5-year-olds in four different preschool settings.

She considers that time one of the most informative periods of her life, and she gained a new perspective on children's growth and on different beliefs about teaching.

"It was a very community-minded culture, and I got to witness how that approach was taught and how they trusted children to make decisions," she said. "It influences the way I see children, trusting them to solve conflicts with one another and build community."

Kuby returned to the U.S. to begin a doctoral program in literacy, culture and language education at Indiana University. She also worked as a reading support teacher at an elementary school in Indiana, where she partnered with volunteers in the community to help provide literacy support for second-grade students.The move to a Ph.D. program marked the beginning of a career that would blend scholarship, teaching and academic leadership.

"I've always been curious about the why," she said. "When I was a teacher, I thought about the research that influenced the work we did. But it wasn't until I got into my research methods classes that I fell in love with doing research and considered working in higher education."

A Shift to University Research and Leadership

Kuby earned her doctorate in 2010 and soon joined the faculty at the University of Missouri, Columbia, where she focused her research on early literacy and educator preparation - particularly how teaching practices are relational.

"A lot of educational research focuses on knowledge production - what students know, how they come to know things and what interventions we're doing," she said. "And while that's important, I think my scholarship speaks to the relationships that happen in classroom spaces."

She has published 12 books and edited journal volumes, as well as numerous book chapters and articles in journals including Qualitative Inquiry, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Journal of Literacy Research, Reading Research Quarterly and Language Arts.

She co-founded the university's Missouri Language and Literacies Center, which is designed to "bring contemporary, research-based understandings of language and literacy into pre-K-12 classrooms."

She also served as chair of the Department of Learning, Teaching and Curriculum for three years before becoming associate provost for faculty success and affairs in 2022. In these roles, she recruited, hired and mentored faculty members, supported undergraduate and graduate student organizations, created faculty development programs and stewarded scholarships and endowed donations, among other tasks.

Kuby's work as a professor, researcher and leader on campus has brought her several insights that she'll bring to her work at Georgia State.

She has successfully collaborated with interdisciplinary researchers to address complex educational challenges.

"Research can be fraught with competing methodologies. I think it's important for us not to find ourselves in dualisms or binaries and instead think about what we can each contribute to a broader mission of the college," she said. "I've been able to work with scholars across methodologies and paradigms, and they've given us new ways of thinking about problem-solving in education."

Her experiences working with college- and university-level leadership have also allowed her to think deeply about the bigger picture of how universities work, and how she can effectively advocate for the College of Education & Human Development with university leaders, policymakers and community partners.

But first and foremost, Kuby sees herself as a teacher who wants to support students preparing for careers in education, health and human service fields.

"I think that's the heart of who I am as an educator," she said. "Whether it's preparing teachers and superintendents or those working in clinical settings with families, education is important to the communities that Georgia State serves."

Leading Through Listening

During the 2026-27 academic year, Kuby's top priority is meeting with as many stakeholders as possible - students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors and community partners, among others - to learn about their experiences and priorities.

"You have to be in a relationship with people to understand them," she said. "I want to be present at workshops, lectures and events as much as possible so I can learn what people are working on and what they're passionate about."

From there, she hopes to work with the college to establish a new strategic plan that aligns with Georgia State's BluePrint to 2033, the university's 10-year strategic plan.

In the long term, Kuby hopes the college can continue working hard to serve learners, families and communities at every level.

"The college's mission statement talks about creating a more just and equitable world and doing so through excellent teaching and research, creating strong leaders, informing policy and working in the community. That's the long-term vision that we should build around," she said.