College of Education welcomes new faculty

Six new faculty members join the College of Education

Fort Worth, Texas

5/11/2011

The College of Education has grown by six new faculty members, as Drs. Robin Griffith, Jo Beth Jimerson, Melody Johnson, Marla McGee, Don Mills, Matt Switzer all joined the college in the fall of 2011.

Dr. Robin Griffith joins the college as Assistant Professor in Reading and English/Language Arts. Her research focuses primarily on the critical role a teacher plays in helping students become successful readers and writers. She previously worked in various language and literacy teaching roles in the Lubbock ISD and with Texas Tech University. Most recently, Griffith served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at East Carolina University. 

As TCU’s former Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Dr. Don Mills is now serving as a Distinguished Professor of Educational Leadership, where he will oversee the development of the Higher Education Ed.D.—a program that is an integral part of the college’s strategic plan. Mills has served TCU in various administrative capacities since 1969 and in an executive position since 1993. Read a recent TCU Magazine Q&A with Mills here.

Dr. Melody Johnson joins the college as the Scholar in Residence following her six-year tenure as superintendent of the Fort Worth ISD, an urban school system of 81,000 students and 12,000 employees. As Scholar in Residence, Johnson will join Mills in helping to develop the college’s Educational Leadership graduate program. She also plans to teach a class in the spring 2012 semester. She joins TCU following more than three decades of service in public education, primarily in the nation’s urban school systems. Read TCU Magazine’s interview with Johnson here.

As Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, Dr. Jo Beth Jimerson is teaching two graduate courses: Administrators and Teachers and Advanced Directed Studies: Data-Informed Decision-Making. Jimerson most recently worked as a legislative analyst for the Texas Association of School Boards and as a teaching assistant in graduate level courses at the University of Texas at Austin as well as a graduate research assistant in a grant project called “The Data-Informed District,” funded by The Spencer Foundation. Jimerson also served as a campus administrator in the Comal ISD in New Braunfels for 10 years.

Dr. Marla McGhee also serves as Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership. She joins the college following her role as Associate Professor and Director of Educational Leadership Licensure Programs at Lewis & Clark College. McGhee has also recently served as the Interim Director of Professional Development for the Austin ISD and as Associate Professor for Texas State University-San Marcos in the Department of Educational Administration and Psychological Services.

Dr. Matt Switzer joins the college as Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education, where he teaches courses in Creative Thinking: Mathematics I and Effective Teaching. Previously Switzer worked as a gradate research assistant at the University of Missouri on a study related to mathematically at-risk students, in particular children with learning difficulties in mathematics.