According to a report in The Oakland Press, Professor C. Robert Maxfield has been appointed interim dean of the School of Education and Human Services.

            Maxfield takes the place of Mary Stein who was removed from the interim post after reports surfaced that she and OU Professor Timothy Larrabee had self plagiarized by publishing articles in two different academic journals based on the same research.

            The move was announced in an email sent to faculty members of the school by Provost James Lentini.

            “I am grateful to Professor Maxfield for his willingness to serve as interim dean while we enact a national search for a permanent dean this academic year,” Lentini wrote. “I also extend my thanks to the chairs of the SEHS for providing invaluable information and consultation regarding the transition of leadership for the school.”

            Maxfield, who had been serving as an associate professor of educational leadership, was a superintendent for school districts in Berkley and Farmington in the Metro Detroit area before joining OU.

            He had been one of the key people involved in OU’s partnership with the Avondale School District to create a magnet school to train OU education students in a real-world environment prior to their student teaching. The school is also intended to encourage the development of peer to peer learning on the part of teachers.

            The Oakland Post will continue to follow this story as more information develops.