Former Anchorage School District Superintendent Deena Bishop was named the new commissioner for the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development on Wednesday.
The Board of Education, which makes the decision for the post, last year appointed Heidi Teschner as the interim commissioner while looking to replace former Commissioner Michael Johnson, who left in June, 2022 for another position. The appointment came near the end of the regular quarterly meeting of the board.
Bishop served on the University of Alaska Board of Regents and has been an educator in Alaska since 1991. She served as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent, and the superintendent of the Mat-Su Borough School District. Recently, she has been a top education adviser to Gov. Mike Dunleavy. In 2021, she was a finalist for chancellor of University of Alaska Anchorage.
Bishop holds a bachelor of science degree in education with a specialization in bilingual education, a master of education degree in administration, and a doctor of education degree in learning assessment and system performance. She is a graduate of the American Association of School Administrators National Superintendents Certification two-year program.
