Since July 01, 2017, Rachel Endo has served as Founding Dean in the School of Education at UW Tacoma, where she holds faculty rank of Professor with tenure. She is the first Woman of Color to serve at the decanal level in the history of this campus. Prior to serving at the decanal level, she held various administrative and teaching positions, spanning both private and public institutions and organizations.

A first-generation college student, Endo attended the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where she was part of the Project Achieve TRIO program, and then went on to earn her MPA in Public Management, MA in Education, and Graduate Certificate in Instructional Technology. Her PhD in Language and Literacy Education with a cognate in Comparative Ethnic Studies is from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she was a University of Illinois Pre-Doctoral Fellow, and received multiple awards for academic excellence and research innovation.

Endo is an inter/nationally recognized scholar of anti-racist approaches to organizational development (including human resource management), Asian/American education, bilingual education, critical multiculturalism, immigrant/refugee education, intersectional realities (especially the intersections of gendered and racialized identities), transnational studies, and urban education. She is the author of multiple publications, including The Incarceration of Japanese Americans in the 1940s: Literature for the High School Classroom (2018, Urbana, IL- The National Council of Teachers of English- winner of a Skipping Stones 2020 Award for Excellent Teaching Resource).

Endo holds multiple HR credentials from the Human Resources Certification Institute (NCCA & IAS accredited), including the Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) credential, which demonstrates competency in 6 core areas of HR functional expertise, also known as the HR Body of Knowledge or BOK: (1) Business Management and Strategy, (2) Workforce Planning and Employment, (3) Human Resources Development, (4) Compensation and Benefits, (5) Employee and Labor Relations, and (6) Risk Management. She holds additional HRCI certificates in the areas of Data Analytics; Diversity and Inclusion in Human Resources Management; and Ethics in Human Resources Management. Among many others, Endo also holds a Conflict Resolution certificate from Cornell University and a Race & Equity Executive Leadership Certificate from the University of Southern California.

Endo has been widely recognized internationally for her commitment to equity and excellence in education. Recent awards include:

2024- Women Worth Watching in Leadership Award, Profiles in Diversity Journal International

2023- Asian Leadership Award, Profiles in Diversity Journal International

2023- Mary Ann Raywid Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Study of Education, Society of Professors of Education

2023- American Educational Research Association’s SIG 94 (Research on the Education of Asian Pacific Americans) Distinguished Researcher Award

2021- Bilingual Research Journal Senior Scholar Award for Dedication to Bilingual Education Research and Early-Career Mentoring

2019- Excellence in Mentorship Award, Division G Social Contexts of Education, American Educational Research Association

2018- Arthur R. King, Jr. Award for Curriculum Innovation and Promoting Equity in Education, Pacific Consortium Circle

2018- Distinguished Alumni Award, College of Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2017- Carl A. Grant Excellence in Research Award, National Association for Multicultural Education

2017- Inaugural Don T. Nakanishi Excellence in Mentorship Award, American Educational Research Association’s Research on the Education of Asian and Pacific Americans