Michael G. Gunzenhauser is the Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Certification. Among his responsibilities, he is the education certification officer for the University of Pittsburgh. Since 2004, he has been an associate professor in the Department of Administrative and Policy Studies.
As a philosopher of education and qualitative research methodologist, Dr. Gunzenhauser has published on issues related to ethics, social justice, the foundations of research, and school reform. Michael G. Gunzenhauser is a philosopher of education and qualitative research methodologist. He has published on issues related to ethics, social justice, the foundations of research, and school reform, including his 2012 book on the ethical responsibilities associated with teachers and school leaders working under the pressures of accountability policy, Active/Ethical Professional: A Framework for Responsible Educators . The book was a 2012 winner of the Critics' Choice Book Award from the American Educational Studies Association.
Dr. Gunzenhauser is currently continuing his study of the cultivation of professionalism in Pre-K 12 and higher education. In addition to his philosophical work, he is working on several collaborative projects in related areas, including principals' attitudes toward the opportunity gap (with Osly Flores) and disciplinary power expressed through student evaluations (with Ya-Wen Hou and Che-Wei Lee).
His line of inquiry on the ethical and epistemological grounding of qualitative research continues with studies of doctoral student preparation in qualitative methodology, including a collaborative project with Stacy Otto.
At the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Gunzenhauser is affiliated with the Center for Urban Education, the Institute for International Studies in Education, the Center for Race and Social Problems, and the program in Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies. He is a former president of the Ohio Valley Philosophy of Education Societyand is on the review board of Educational Theory and the editorial board for Educational Foundations .
Before coming to the University of Pittsburgh in 2004, Dr. Gunzenhauser was an assistant professor at Oklahoma State University. His doctoral training was under the direction of Drs. Lynda Stone and George Noblit at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Beginning his educational career as a resident assistant at the University of North Carolina in 1986, he has served in several professional roles in education, including coordinator for pre-college programs at Duke University and residential counselor at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics.