Jennifer Rinck, PhD
The University of South Florida (USF) College of Education welcomes Jennifer Rinck, PhD, as its new director of community relations and engagement.
In this newly created role, Rinck will support administrative efforts to expand and enhance the College of Education’s community engagement initiatives and will create additional opportunities for the college to strengthen its community-engaged research collaborations and partnerships with local, state and national organizations.
“The addition of Dr. Jennifer Rinck to the USF College of Education’s leadership team will assist with our college’s continued efforts to consistently maintain and co-develop community engagement opportunities across our partner school districts and with nonprofit and community organizations across the Tampa Bay region,” said R. Anthony Rolle, PhD, professor and dean of the College of Education. “It is because of these partnerships that our students, staff, faculty and alumni continue to make a lasting impact within the education sector, and we look forward to further strengthening these collaborations under Dr. Rinck’s leadership.”
Rinck joins the College of Education from Pasco County Schools, where she served for over 20 years in various positions, including special education teacher, instructional coach, school improvement coach and consultant, grants manager, program coordinator and evaluator and professional development supervisor. Outside of her work in the school district, Rinck also teaches courses as an adjunct instructor in the College of Education.
In her district administrator experience, Rinck designed and led district-wide initiatives and conferences such as new teacher induction and mentoring programs, leadership development programs, university and school partnerships and district and school systems improvement projects. She has worked extensively with universities to coordinate initiatives that expand the district’s talent pipeline and invest in educators to further develop their expertise.
Rinck earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from Florida State University and her PhD in Educational Leadership from USF in 2018. During her doctoral studies, Rinck worked in the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs within the Research to Practice Division, where she worked alongside federal policymakers, national and international research organizations and national experts in education.
Rinck’s research agenda focuses on policy implementation, systems learning, school leadership, university and PK-12 school partnerships and professional development. She has book chapters published in “Educational Leadership Where We’ve Been and Where We Are Going: Dimensions of Research, Policy, and Practice” and “Clinically Based Teacher Education in Action.”
Rinck has shared her research at several conferences including the American Evaluation Association, the University Council of Educational Administration, the American Education Research Association, the International Council of Professors of Educational Leadership and the National Association of Professional Development Schools (NAPDS).
Rinck began her appointment to the role on May 2.