Three Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development faculty have been promoted to associate professor with tenure. The promotions were voted on by Peabody and university-wide faculty committees and confirmed by the Board of Trust at its spring meeting May 15-16.
The faculty are Kathleen Lane, associate professor of special education; Richard Milner, Betts Associate Professor of Education; and Thomas Smith, associate professor of public policy and education.
"Professors Lane, Milner and Smith have been three of Peabody College’s most promising junior faculty members, and each is conducting work with the potential to improve education," Camilla Benbow, Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development, said. "Encouraging positive classroom behaviors, addressing the challenges of urban schools, and exploring how education policy can strengthen teacher induction and retention all merit the kind of sustained attention that their promotions will ensure. We look forward to watching the progress of their efforts."
Lane studies the connection between academic underachievement and emotional and behavioral disorders. Her work in classrooms has helped teachers to reduce the impact "troublemaking" kids have on other students, while helping those troubled children focus and learn by addressing their emotional and/or behavioral disorders. She is the co-author of three books on this topic: School-based Interventions: The Tools You Need to Succeed; Interventions for Children with or at Risk for Emotional and Behavioral Disorders; and Functional Behavioral Assessment and Function-based Intervention: An Effective, Practical Approach. She is an investigator in the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development.
Milner’s research focuses on what role teachers’ thinking and beliefs play in the development of language arts and other curriculum; on urban education and access to education in urban areas; and on race, culture and equity in education. He is an editor of the book Race, Ethnicity, and Education: The Influences of Racial and Ethnic Identity in Education, co-author of Teaching Culturally Diverse Students, and author of two classroom handbook chapters and many peer-reviewed articles.
Smith’s current research focuses on the socialization, professionalization and retention of teachers and the impact of policy on teacher and instructional quality. He is the co-author of six editions of The Condition of Education, the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics annual report to Congress, three editions of Education at a Glance by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and many peer-reviewed articles.
For more information about Peabody College, visit http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu.
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