Michael Holen
Dean, College of Education and Elvon G. Skeen Chair in Education and Lydia E. Skeen Chair in Education
Michael C. Holen, dean of the College of Education, joined K-State in 1971. He served
as a professor, department head and associate dean before being named dean in 1990.
A highly honored educator, Holen received the Presidential Award for Distinguished Service to Minority Education in 1988 and in 2004 was recognized as the Outstanding Alumnus in Education at the University of Oregon. The American Council on Rural Special Education named him the national outstanding rural educator in 2002, and he received the Community of Practice Faculty Service Award from the University Professional and Continuing Education Association in 2011.
Holen has chaired the Regents' Council of Education Deans three times, and served in a variety of roles within the Big 12 Conference governance structure while serving as K-State's faculty athletics representative from 1999 to 2010.
In 2002, K-State's leadership studies program, now the School of Leadership Studies, named its Michael C. Holen Outstanding Leadership Award in his honor to recognize exemplary leadership on the K-State campus.
Holen earned his bachelor's degree in history from Stanford University and his master's and doctorate degrees in educational psychology, both from the University of Oregon.
Holen can be contacted at 785-532-5526 or via e-mail at mholen@k-state.edu.