Diane M DeBacker

Diane M. DeBacker, EdD, serves as the Assistant Vice Provost for Jayhawk Flex overseeing the program development of competency-based education at the University of Kansas. Dr. DeBacker began her tenure at the University of Kansas in 2021 when she was named the Founding Director of the Center for Certification and Competency-Based Education, C3Be, a research center within the Achievement and Assessment Institute. She continues to serve in this role in addition to that of Assistant Vice Provost of Jayhawk Flex..

Dr. DeBacker’s passion for education has taken her from her first high school classroom in Manhattan, Kansas, to advising the education system in Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates, to Chief Academic Officer in Seattle Public Schools, to serving as Commissioner of Education for the state of Kansas, to Executive Director of Business and Education Innovation for the Kansas Department of Commerce where she also led Governor Colyer’s Education Council. In her 40+ years in education, DeBacker has provided clarity to complex education issues including state education governance structures, school finance, federal education legislation, education policy, workforce development and training, and education administration and leadership. She has taught as an adjunct professor at Kansas State University and Washburn University and is excited to add the University of Kansas to this esteemed list.