About

Rose M. Ylimaki

Del and Jewell Lewis Endowed Chair

Rose Ylimaki grew up in a rural Michigan community, earned her bachelors’ degree from a liberal arts college, Northern Michigan University, her master’s degree from Central Michigan University, and her Ph.D. in Educational Administration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has experience as a K-12 Educational Administration in Wisconsin, faculty experience at the University at Buffalo and the University of Arizona, and Higher Education Administrative experience as a Department Chair and Interim Director of the Center for Innovation in Higher Education at the University of South Carolina.

As the Del and Jewell Lewis Endowed Chair, Dr. Ylimaki also works with NAU faculty and students to develop research that impacts schools and leadership across Arizona and beyond. Dr. Ylimaki studies leadership in schools with underserved populations as part of two international studies of school leadership, the International Successful School Principalship Project and the International School Leadership Development Network. She developed a school development project called the Arizona Initiative for Leadership Development and Research (AZiLDR), a school improvement project for high-needs schools across Arizona, based upon research from the international projects and a commitment to equity and social justice.