Remembering longtime educational leadership professor, Glenn L. Immegart

Glenn L. Immegart, PhD, a pioneer of the Warner School of Education’s educational leadership program, died in June at the age of 86.

Immegart came to the Warner School in 1964 and was a long-standing faculty member in the educational leadership program. He taught for 33 years and served as department chair. During his tenure, Immegart made notable and lasting impacts in the educational leadership program and the field of educational administration.

In 1972, Immegart was chair when Tyll van Geel, professor emeritus in the educational leadership program, joined the educational leadership faculty. Immegart’s chairmanship, van Geel recalls, was fundamental in starting the program down the path it took during the years that followed.  Immegart initiated the idea that the EdD program should at its heart consist of three core courses—one in organizational theory and leadership, one in decision making, and one in communication. 

“It was Glenn’s vision that the courses be shaped with an eye toward research literature and those three areas, alongside of the insights and suggestions of practicing administrators from the Rochester area,” says van Geel.  “To that end, he formed an advisory group comprised of faculty members and local superintendents and principals that met several times a year with faculty. His threefold emphasis on theory, research, and practice was further reflected in the faculty hired during his chairmanship.”

Today, the Warner School continues to build on Immegart’s legacy and lasting impact with the educational leadership program in preparing individuals for leadership positions within educational institutions. 

Immegart’s primary teaching areas were educational administration, administrative decision-making, personnel administration, and systems and planning approaches. His research interests were in organizational and administrative decision-making, problem-solving, administrative behavior, and research activity in educational administration.

He also served as editor of the Educational Administration Quarterly from 1980-85. He has written and consulted widely on educational administration and the preparation of educational administrators. His publications include Problem-Finding in Educational Administration: Trends in Research and Theory (1979) with William L. Boyd; Introduction to Systems for the Educational Administrator (1973) with Francis J. Pilecki; Ethics and the School Administration (1970) with John Burroughs; and several articles on these topics.

The reform and improvement of programs in educational leadership was a central theme across Immegart’s research and practice—a focus, van Geel recalls, that led Immegart to a multi-year consultation in Spain to design and establish an in-service training program for school directors. On several occasions, Immegart traveled to Spain with his wife Mary Lou, also an educator, to train administrators. The two became a team in collecting feedback from workshops at the University of Deutso.

In addition to being remembered as a dedicated faculty member, researcher and colleague, Immegart is cherished as a husband, father, and grandfather. A resident of Pittsford, N.Y., for many years, Immegart loved to play music and travel the world. He is a former music teacher and brass player who completed his undergraduate work in music education at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, where he met Mary Lou, who later became his wife of 62 years. Immegart went on to obtain his master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati followed by a PhD in educational administration from The Ohio State University.

Immegart is survived by his wife and his two daughters Heidi Immegart-Lewis and Mary Sue Allen. He will be greatly missed by the Warner School community and those who were fortunate to be his colleagues and students.