Leadership Team

Dr. Shelley S. Rouser is Chairperson and Associate Professor for the Education Department at Delaware State University.  She oversees the Council for Professional Education at DSU which is comprised of eight undergraduate education programs and three graduate programs.

Prior to joining Delaware State University, Dr. Rouser has 25 years of experience in K-12 education, as a teacher and instructional coach the first half of her career, and as an administrator at the district and state levels the second half. As the Director of K-12 Initiatives and Educator Engagement at the Delaware Department of Education she led the Equity Council for the State Department as well as directed the work of the Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Development workgroup overseeing nine content areas and leading the State’s college and career ready standards implementation efforts through statewide initiatives such as Common Ground for the Common Core, the NextGen Teacher Leader Project, and Reimagining Professional Learning Grants, to name a few.

Prior to working with the Department of Education she led the Instruction Services division in New Castle County Vocational Technical School district. As a former middle and high school teacher, teacher leader, content area specialist, and central office administrator, Dr. Rouser is experienced with the challenges of managing a major change effort as well as the systems work it takes to build capacity to navigate such adaptive changes.

Her current work at Delaware State University is grounded in establishing more equitable systems and diverse educators in K-12 schools through initiatives aimed to increase the number of male educators, establishing innovative undergraduate and graduate programs that prepare culturally responsive teachers and administrators, ensuring early childhood education programs for under-resourced communities meet the highest quality standards, and providing professional development supports to local school districts around equity, access, and culturally responsive pedagogy.

Under her leadership, Delaware State University received a $31.6 million dollar grant for an Early Childhood Innovation Center. In following her educational equity-focused efforts, Dr. Rouser led the state’s P20 Council’s Educator Supports for Early Literacy through Institutions of Higher Education Committee and currently serves on the Redding Consortium focused on educational equity in Delaware’s urban and rural communities and the Wilmington Center for Educational Equity Steering Committee (WCEEP).