About our authors
Robert G. Owens is professor emeritus at Hofstra University and the City University of New York. He began his professional career as the teaching principal of a 3-room school. While acting as principal for 18 years in a variety of school environments, he served as assistant professor of educational administration at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Owens left K12 school administration to join the faculty at several universities, including the State University of New York at Buffalo, Brooklyn College of City University of New York, Indiana University and Hofstra University. His research, publications and service have always focused on, and been centered in, the practice of improving the organizational effectiveness of schools.
Thomas C. Valesky is professor emeritus at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida. He was professor and program leader for the Department of Educational Leadership. Previously, he served as professor and program leader for Educational Leadership at the University of South Florida Ft. Myers and professor and chair of the Department of Educational Administration and Supervision at the University of Memphis. At the University of Memphis, he was also a senior researcher and team leader for the Tennessee state-sponsored Center for Research in Educational Policy (CREP), studying school-based decision making and school finance. His work with CREP resulted in coauthorship of 2 books: Training for School-Based Decision Making (Scarecrow Press, 2003) and Challenge to Change: The Memphis Experience with School-Based Decision Making (Technomics Publishing, 1994). In addition, he has written 31 refereed journal articles (published in such journals as Journal of Education Finance, Exceptional Children, and the National Forum of Educational Administration and Supervision Journal), 30 program evaluations and policy reports, 63 scholarly papers presented at national and regional conferences and three interactive online simulations. The simulations are available for free from the Connexions project at Rice University.
Dr. Valesky began his career in education serving in a variety of positions, including teacher, high school counselor, elementary principal and superintendent. These positions were both in the United States and overseas, including 2 positions in International-American schools as superintendent of the American School of San Salvador, El Salvador, and the Anglo-American School in Sophia, Bulgaria, for the U.S. and British embassies.
Dr. Valesky was president of the Southern Regional Council on Educational Administration (SRCEA) from 2001 to 2002 and served on the executive board from 1998 to 2003. In addition, he has been active with the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (NCPEA), where he served as a member of the executive board from 1995 to 1998. Other service to the profession includes membership on editorial boards of 8 national peer-reviewed journals and as editor for school finance and business for the NCPEA Connexions project, an open-source peer-reviewed online database hosted at Rice University.
2 awards of significance were as follows:
- Florida Gulf Coast University Senior Faculty Scholarship Award, 2012
- Jack Greer Lifetime Contribution Award, Southern Regional Council on Educational Administration, Atlanta, Georgia, October 2009
