Deborah Eldridge

Dr. Deborah Eldridge serves as Director of Academic Engagement of Western Governors University. Prior to that, Deb served as Dean and Academic Vice President of WGU’s Teachers College. Deb leads teams that are dedicated to academic outreach, grant-making, publication and presentations in collaboration with faculty and leaders.

Before coming to WGU, Deb was a Senior Vice President at the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), the governing body that formed from the merger of the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC). While serving in that role, she drafted the preliminary policies and procedures of CAEP and provided overall administration for all accreditation operations.

Prior to her work at CAEP, Deb was engaged in teacher preparation as a professor of literacy education, department chair of Curriculum and Instruction at Hunter College and Montclair State University, an Associate Dean responsible for accreditation at Hunter College, and then Dean of Education at Lehman College of the City University of New York. She was the primary author of two Teacher Quality Partnership grants/awards from the United States Department of Education: one for Lehman College and one for the American Museum of Natural History. Deb is a nationally recognized presenter on accreditation and is the author of numerous books and articles on teacher preparation and accreditation.