UCEA History

The professional beginning for educational administration began in 1947 under the guidance of Walter Cocking, editor of The School Executive, and E. B. Norton, professor of educational administration at Teachers College Columbia, with the founding of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (NCPEA). The formation of the Cooperative Program in Education Administration (CPEA) by 1955 had 30 institutions receive grants to advance the study of school administration.

In 1954, members of the Cooperative Program in Educational Administration (Middle Atlantic Region) proposed an organization that would be devoted to improving the professional preparation of educational administrators. To help establish such an organization, a central office with part-time staff was established on the campus of Columbia University, financed by a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation to Teachers College Columbia.

Between 1956 and 1959, with the help of the staff at the Teachers College office, UCEA’s constitution and by-laws were formulated, the organization’s purposes were defined, and additional financial support was obtained in the form of a five-year grant from the Kellogg Foundation. The organization was officially founded in 1959 and the UCEA central office moved to The Ohio State University when a small, full-time staff was hired. In 1984, the central office shifted to Arizona State University, followed by a move to Pennsylvania State University in 1991. From 1996 to 2006, the central office found its home at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and from 2006 to 2011, the UCEA headquarters was based at the University of Texas at Austin. The consortium resided at the University of Virginia until 2020, subsequently relocating to Michigan State University, where it remains hosted to this day.