In July, Marius Boboc began his tenure as the dean of the College of Education at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Before coming to UMSL, Boboc spent 23 years as part of the faculty in the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education at Cleveland State University. (Photo by Derik Holtmann)

Marius Boboc’s first foray into the education field was as a full-time substitute at a rural middle school in his native Romania. Like many green teachers, Boboc initially struggled with classroom management. It certainly didn’t help that he only had to pass a subject-matter exam to qualify for the position.

At the end of the school year, Boboc’s classroom earned the dubious distinction as “worst behaved” in the entire school. However, the experience ignited a burgeoning passion and opened his eyes to what it truly takes to be an effective educator.

“I think I was naive about the art and technique of teaching, but by realizing that it’s something that I wanted to do as a career, I was really interested in developing the skills,” Boboc said. “Then I learned that through self-reflection you can improve constantly. I think that also appealed to me, the ability to learn about my craft and about myself doing the craft.”

Since that time, Boboc has built a distinguished career in education that has spanned multiple decades, countries and institutions. Boboc’s dedicated professional practice and scholarship have helped him rise to several leadership positions, including chair of the Department of Teacher Education and vice provost of the Office of Academic Planning at Cleveland State University. In July, he began his tenure as the dean of the College of Education at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, marking a new phase in his professional journey.

Boboc’s work in his new role started with listening to stakeholders at UMSL and within the St. Louis community to develop a detailed picture of where the college is currently succeeding and where it can evolve.

“There is room for growth in particular areas,” he said. “Through reaching out to community members, we can make collaborative decisions about how to expand our capacity to do more while sustaining the capacity to do what we do so well.”

An uncertain path

Growing up in Constanța, Romania, a port city on the Black Sea, Boboc was unsure of what path to take as he approached college. His father was a captain in the merchant marines, and he came from a long line of educators, including his mother, who taught elementary school. Initially, he toyed with the idea of becoming an actor since he had been an avid member of his high school drama club. A more practical profession won out, though.

“I went into accounting, not knowing what an accountant does until I got in,” he said. “Then I didn’t want to get out, so I completed the program. I worked for a year as an accountant, and I didn’t like it. I started subbing French and English in middle school, and that’s when I realized that teaching was my calling.”

Boboc also discovered he could bring his background in drama to teaching because, in a way, the classroom serves as a stage. Both professions also require malleability and self-reflection.

“You assume different roles as a teacher,” he explained. “You’re a teacher, but also you can be a mentor, you can be a counselor. You can be an advisor. Students, every day they come to school, they’re one step along their journey of self-discovery. We also bring ourselves to the classroom, and that’s our own personal journey of discovery. So, through interactions with students every single day in the classroom, there’s a new episode on that journey. You learn about yourself. You learn about your trade. You learn about your students.”

Boboc continued to substitute teach full-time while going back to school to earn dual degrees in Romanian and English language and literature with the goal of becoming a licensed K-12 modern languages teacher. After graduating, he took another leap to advance his career by accepting a full scholarship to study teacher leadership at Roosevelt University in Chicago.

A new calling

The broader scope of education curriculum available in the United States appealed to Boboc and motivated him to apply for the master’s program at Roosevelt. In Romania, he felt that his degree programs were rigid with little opportunity to explore electives or more specialized areas of education pedagogy.

“I chose the U.S. because of the flexibility of the curriculum and the different options that were available here, such as educational technology, teacher leadership, which is what I chose in the end, curriculum design and all sorts of other things that were all new to me,” he said.

Teacher leadership was particularly attractive because the field of study was virtually non-existent in Romania. Teachers would move up the ranks and eventually become administrators but without any dedicated leadership training.

“I saw that there were pieces missing from how to run a school in a way that broadens the horizons of teachers and encourages them to pursue leadership opportunities as they come,” Boboc said. “I thought that would be a very interesting opportunity for me to delve into a new field of study.”

After earning his master’s degree, Boboc returned to Europe and taught English as a foreign language as well as American literature and creative writing for several years. But his time in the U.S. had aroused his interest in exploring other areas of education. He soon found himself back in the Midwest to further his education at the University of Northern Iowa.

There, Boboc’s dissertation-related research focused on curriculum and instruction, specifically the utilization of online resources and educational technology in instruction. After earning his doctorate, he accepted a position at Cleveland State University, where he spent 23 years as part of the faculty in the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education.

Over the years, Boboc’s research interests have grown as his career has progressed. He still has a keen focus on online curriculum and instruction, which is now more relevant than ever after the COVID-19 pandemic, but topics such as higher education leadership and institutional effectiveness have also captured his attention.

“Once I moved into central administration, I realized how in a role like that you can bring together different parts of the university to serve students and their communities that rely on a university as an anchor institution in that community,” Boboc said. “So, my research interests grew over time. I’m still interested in online instruction, but I added other pieces to it.”

The future

Boboc plans to bring all he’s learned through his research efforts and various leadership positions to the College of Education. His first priority will be sustaining and capitalizing on pillars such as the teacher preparation program. Boboc will also aim to strengthen strategic partnerships and support the St. Louis community through programming offered by the College of Education at UMSL as an anchor institution, which will require actively involving alumni, students and community leaders.

“Short term, my job is to make sure that all of these areas are well supported, well developed and they respond to continued needs in the community,” Boboc said. “For medium term, we’ve already started conversations about new programming. We’d like to approach the design of those new programs in a modular fashion. We want to see what our peer institutions are doing, so that there is no duplication or replication of academic programming. We want to be innovative. We want to be interdisciplinary. We want to be inclusive of community partners.”

Within the next five years, Boboc expects the College of Education will have a new complement of programs that puts it on a “new upward path.” He’s eager to see where that path will take the college and the university.

“I’m very excited to be here because I can sense the level of excitement and the level of commitment to the work that people do, not only in the College, but across campus and across the system,” Boboc said. “There are lots of opportunities for growth, lots of opportunities for innovation, and I’m very thankful that I can be part of a creative team in a college to contribute to the mission of the university.”