Shelby Cosner is an Associate Professor of Educational Organization and Leadership in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is also a Faculty Affiliate at UIC's Center for Urban Education Leadership and at the University of Chicago's Chicago Consortium on School Research. Her research interests include organizational change, school reform and improvement, leadership for school improvement, and principal preparation/development/evaluation.
She is an applied qualitative researcher whose work draws heavily from the organizational sciences, sociology, social psychology, and management. Her recent work appears in such peer-reviewed journals as Educational Administration Quarterly, the Journal of Educational Administration, the Journal of School Leadership, Leadership and Policy in Schools, Urban Education, Educational Management Administration & Leadership, and the Journal of Research on Leadership Education, and Planning and Changing. Working independently and with various colleagues, Cosner has obtained over 6M in external funding (e.g., U.S. Department of Education, The Wallace Foundation, The McCormick Foundation, The Lyle Spencer Foundation, The Broad Foundation) for various research or development/research projects.
Cosner has served as the Academic Program Director and Associate Program Coordinator for UICs Doctorate in Urban Educational Leadership. In these roles she co-led program redesign and implementation over a multi-year timeframe. This program has received major national awards and recognitions for its program quality including UCEA's 2013 award as an Exemplary Leadership Preparation Program (one of two programs nationally to receive this designation in its inaugural year) and the 2012 Urban Impact Award from the Council of Great City Schools. She teaches a variety of leadership, school organization, and qualitative research methods courses for doctoral students in the Department of Educational Policy Studies. Cosner has received multiple awards for her teaching including UIC's Council for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award in 2009 and UIC's most prestigious Career Teaching Award, the Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2016.
Cosner is recognized as an expert related to educational leader preparation, development, and evaluation. She is regularly sought to design and provide school and system-level leadership development experiences. She has served as a curriculum developer and trainer of trainers for leadership development programs and institutes for state departments of education, regional educational offices, and state superintendent/principal associations. She supported the design and pilot implementation of Wisconsin's state-wide principal evaluation system. She consults with school districts throughout the US to provide development for senior/district-level leadership teams, school leadership teams, principals, and teacher leaders. She evaluates principal preparation and development programs for state departments of education and for universities.
Cosner is a former principal and district-level leader.