Meet the Dean

Shari Tarver Behring, Ph.D.

Beginning her career at CSUN as a part time lecturer in 1986, Dr. Shari Tarver Behring was soon hired as a tenure track faculty/coordinator in School Counseling/School Psychology in 1991. She went on to serve as the Chair of the Department of Educational Psychology from 2008 to 2017, before assuming her current role as Dean of the largest public college of education in California — the Michael D. Eisner College of Education. Tarver-Behring earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of South Dakota, her master’s in clinical psychology from Marquette University and her Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Wisconsin, where she honed her passion for social justice. She has served as principal investigator on grants totaling more than $7 million, and is the author or co-author of numerous publications in the areas of school consultation with diverse children and families, inclusion of students with neurodiversity in general education and self-care in higher education.