Lesser Professor in Early Childhood Development Kathleen McCartney assumed the post of acting dean of the Graduate School of Education (GSE) today.

A search for a permanent leader of GSE is already underway, and McCartney, who is also an academic dean at GSE, will likely have just a year in the office before a permanent dean is selected, although she said her successor could be appointed even sooner.

“Let’s be optimistic—by the end of October,” McCartney said, referring to the date by which a dean could be appointed. But she added that if necessary, “I’m prepared to serve for the [entire academic] year.”

McCartney, who has held tenure at the GSE since 2000, succeeds Ellen Condliffe Lagemann, who surprised many GSE faculty last March when she abruptly announced that she would step down as dean of the education school at the end of the academic year.

University President Lawrence H. Summers, who appointed McCartney on June 6, praised her qualifications for the job.

“Kathy McCartney is an outstanding scholar....I am grateful for her willingness to help guide the [GSE] through this time of transition,” he said through a spokesman.

In an interview, McCartney said that her appointment was not completely unexpected.

“Because I was the academic dean, it was kind of a natural choice,” she said.

McCartney will retain all the responsibilities of a permanent dean, which include fundraising, faculty appointments, and overseeing the planning for the GSE’s proposed move to Allston.

McCartney comes to the position with a strong administrative background. In addition to serving as an academic dean at GSE, she is also a member of the University-wide Allston Master Planning Committee.

Thompson Professor in Education and Society Richard J. Murnane said that a dean search advisory committee has been formed, but that to his knowledge, it has yet to meet.

Summers, in consultation with the search committee, will consider both candidates already at the GSE and external ones, McCartney said. Summers has ultimate authority over all deanship appointments.

McCartney said that as acting dean she plans to follow through on several key reforms inaugurated under Lagemann, including the further development of core-like classes.

The GSE’s first such course, “Thinking Like an Educator,” features a case study drawn from a Boston-area school. It will be required for many master’s candidates this fall, and McCartney said there are plans for adding a second broadly required class.

Lagemann, who officially steps down today, served as dean for only three years. The five GSE deans before her each served for more than eight years each.