Educator Rodney J. Reed was born on May 16, 1932, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Edgar Joseph and Ursula Desvignes Reed, and was the first of their six children. He graduated from Gilbert Academy High School in New Orleans and Clark College (renamed Clark Atlanta University) in Atlanta, Georgia, where he received his B.A. degree in 1951. He later earned a Master of Music Education degree from the University of Michigan in 1956. In 1961, he married Vernell Auzenne of Opelousas, Louisiana. The couple have two adult children: Karen and Ursula.
Dr. Reed earned a PhD in Educational Policy, Planning, and Administration from the School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1971. He then became an Assistant Professor of Educational Policy, Planning, and Administration at the University of California, Berkeley School of Education. At that time, he was the second tenure-track Black professorial appointee in that university’s School of Education.
Dr. Reed formed the Ambassadors Dance and Performance Orchestra, which was active for several years in the San Francisco Bay Area where it performed with Edward “Duke” Ellington, Nancy Wilson, and Lou Rawls. In addition, Reed was also selected as the co-developer of the Music Section for the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco.
In January 1990, Dr. Reed became the Pennsylvania Professor of Education and Dean of the Pennsylvania State University College of Education where he served as the University’s first Black senior academic administrator. From 1991 to 1994, he produced and hosted the locally televised program, Touching the Future, which included interviews with some of the nation’s outstanding educators. Jones Cable Network and Mind Extension University sponsored and televised the show.
In 1998, Dr. Reed retired as Dean and Professor of Education at Pennsylvania State University and was designated College of Education Dean and Professor Emeritus. Over his career, Dr. Reed has published numerous books and articles on educational administration and equality and has served on the editorial boards of the Educational Administrative Quarterly, The Journal of School Leadership, Education and Urban Society and The Journal of African American Male Studies. Among his many publications are “Peer Tutoring Programs for the Academically Deficient Student in Higher Education”, “Characteristics of Teachers: A Survey Tool for Policy Making. A descriptive Study in Liberia”, Educational Administration and Policy: Effective Leadership for American Education (with James W. Guthrie)” and, A Grand Journey: The History of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity 1904-2010.
Dr. Reed’s professional associations have included the American Educational Research Association and the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education. He has also served as a Board member of the California Bay Area Urban League. In 2010, he was elected to a two-year term as the International President of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, the oldest predominantly Black Greek-letter fraternity worldwide.
He has received Resolutions from the State of California Senate for “outstanding record of personal, professional, and civic achievements,” and from the California Assembly for “exemplary display of responsible and dedicated service to his community and state.” He has also been “Alumnus of the Year, 1992” at The Black Alumni Club, California Alumni Association, University of California at Berkeley. The Rodney J. and Vernell A. Reed Graduate Scholarship in Urban Education has been established in his honor at the Pennsylvania State University. As an Omega Psi Phi Fraternity member, he has received the Sigma Iota Chapter Man of the Year and Lifetime Achievement awards, and the fraternity’s 78th Twelfth District Founders Award.
