Meet our Executive Director

Krista D. Glazewski—an expert in problem-based learning, scaffolding and teacher professional development—became the executive director of the William and Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation (FI) and associate dean for translational research with NC State’s College of Education on July 1, 2023. 

Previously, Glazewski was a professor and department chair of Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University’s School of Education. 

“As the executive director of the Friday Institute and associate dean for translational research at NC State’s College of Education, I am thrilled to be part of a team dedicated to bridging research-to-practice approaches,” said Glazewski. “The appointment enables continued opportunities to realize critical research-to-practice approaches and ensure that the advancements we make at NC State reach classrooms from the mountain region to the coastal plain and beyond.”

A lifelong educator, Glazewski is a former middle school teacher originally from New Mexico. Her partnership work has spanned multiple regions in the U.S. to investigate how and under what conditions teachers might adopt and adapt new practices. The integration of these ideas has resulted in numerous contributions and is distinguished by over 70 publications and $10 million in external funding primarily from the National Science Foundation, US Department of Education and the Department of Defense. 

Her work has focused on ways to develop instruction to support learning through complex problem solving with problem-, project-, case- and inquiry-based learning supported by foundational and emergent technologies. She has conducted this work in a variety of diverse contexts, from K-12 schools to the U.S. military to engineering education and in places all around the world. She also works with the National Science Foundation AI Institute for Engaged Learning, which is headquartered at NC State, as part of their senior personnel.

Get to Know Krista

• Her last name is wild. Pronounced phonetically Gla-zoo-skee. “Just add the zoo,” she says. Glazewski was born in New Mexico into a mixed racial Hispanic background with a single mother and adopted into a white family, hence her Polish last name. She recognizes her privilege but has not forgotten her heritage and her pathway to where she is today. Her experience has helped her see the importance of centering people’s stories and empowering agency on their own terms.
• Her vision for the Friday Institute is expansive. “The Friday Institute is a community committed to excellence,” she says. “I get to take care of the Friday Institute. The Friday Institute is not just a place or a person. It’s a future that we’re building and creating together. I want to partner at the micro level classroom by classroom, partner with NC districts and schools and then globally.” 
• She loves seeing the growth in all things. Glazewski enjoys tinkering, gardening and farming. “I get lots of satisfaction out of seeing things happen and grow that didn’t exist before,” she says. 
• She never stops learning. Her family jokes that she never left school. “I love learning so much. I love seeing what’s happening in the world, asking questions of why that’s happening, and creating opportunities for myself to be a lifelong learner but also to engage practices that help foster learning for the world as I know it,” says Glazewski.
• She’ll never stop teaching. “I love the work of teaching, and I think that I’m always going to be a teacher no matter what I’m doing or where I’m at,” she says. “The practice of teaching is, to me, the most important kind of communication and work that we can do.”