Sherin to Lead Master's and Professional Programs
Miriam Gamoran Sherin has been named associate dean for master’s and professional education at Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy, a new role that reflects the growing scope and importance of the master’s and professional programs, Dean Bryan Brayboy announced.
Sherin, the Alice Gabrielle Twight Professor of Learning Sciences, will provide academic and organizational leadership across the school’s full portfolio of master's, certificate, and professional development programs. In this role, Sherin will serve as a connective leader across program directors, shared services leads, and school leadership.
A member of the prestigious National Academy of Education, Sherin joined the Northwestern faculty in 1997 and has served in several leadership roles during her nearly 30 years with the School of Education and Social Policy, including Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education from 2018-2025.
Sherin's research looks at how teachers think and learn. Her recent work focuses on "teacher noticing" — how teachers spot and respond to important moments while they're teaching. For more than 20 years, she's studied how video can help teachers learn and improve.
Most recently, Shirin coedited the April 2026 issue of the journal ZDM Mathematics Education, which explored new or creative ways to study how math teachers notice things while teaching. She also co-edited Mathematics Teacher Noticing: Seeing Through Teachers' Eyes, which won a 2013 research award from the American Educational Research Association. In 2016, she and several colleagues won an award from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics for linking research and practice.
She holds a bachelor’s and master’s in mathematics from the University of Chicago and the University of California, San Diego respectively. She received her doctorate in science and math education from the University of California, Berkeley.