Michael J. Lewis, professor of special education at California State University, Sacramento, has been named dean of the university's College of Education.

Lewis was enthusiastic about the post, which he has held on an interim basis for 18 months since the previous dean moved to a Florida university.

"I really do see this job as representing my colleagues out in the community," he said Wednesday.

The 55-year-old professor, whose appointment officially begins Monday, said he has a number of issues he wants to tackle.

He noted that the College of Education has hired 39 faculty members in the past two years, people who will be in the department long after he leaves.

He said it was important for him to "engage them, find out what their vision is for their work and ask how I can help them reach that vision."

Lewis also is working to gain accreditation for the college from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.

The national performance-based accreditation system pushes, among other things, accountability and improvement in teacher preparedness. About half the CSU campuses with teacher colleges are accredited by the prestigious group, a coalition of 35 organizations involved in education.

In addition, Lewis said he looks forward to working with faculty and staff on designing the badly needed education building.

The building would be part of dramatic campus makeover planned by CSUS President Alexander Gonzalez over the next 10 years.

Lewis, a 23-year veteran of CSUS and its College of Education, has been involved in two statewide education efforts.

At the request of the state Department of Education, Lewis helped develop grants for programs to be used by special education teachers in grades K-12 in the 1990s. In 2000, the CSU Chancellor's Office tapped him to examine teacher preparedness as it related to new state academic standards.