Awards
- School of Education Distinguished Alumni Award (2019)
About Carole Ames
Carole Ames served as dean of the College of Education and professor of educational psychology at Michigan State University for 18 years, retiring in August 2012. She earned a B.A. in psychology in 1967 and an M.S. in education in 1968 from Indiana University and a Ph.D. in psychological sciences in 1976 from Purdue University. Prior to her appointment at MSU, she served on the faculties at the University of Maryland and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and then as chair of the Department of Educational Psychology at UIUC. During her tenure as dean, the College of Education was recognized by the U.S. News and World Report with over seven graduate programs consistently ranked among the top ten. She launched new initiatives including the establishment of the Education Policy Center, the Office of K-12 Outreach, Global and Urban Educator's Cohort Programs and online graduate programs.
Ames has been recognized as a leader in research on the development of academic motivation and has published extensively on the effects of classroom structures and teaching practices on student motivation to learn. For her scholarship, she was awarded fellow status from Division 15 of the American Psychological Association.
Her service to the profession has included vice president of Division E (Counseling and Human Development) of the American Educational Research Association, board of directors for the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, executive board of the Council of Academic Deans from Research Education Institutions, chair of the Council of Education Deans for the Council of Independent Colleges/Big Ten Institutions, Fulbright Commission committees, editorial boards, National Research Council Committees of the National Academies, and long-standing membership on the Dean's Advisory Board for the IU School of Education. Her range of contributions has also been recognized through an Honorary Alumni Award from Michigan State University and a Distinguished Friend Award from the Purdue University School of Education.