8.1MB - College of Education - Auburn University

Whitford feels fully embraced
by Auburn family
New dean envisions bright future for College of Education
She has been a high school social studies
teacher, a university professor, a zealous
pursuer of school reform, a fully engaged
researcher and a university administrator. But long
before Dr. Betty Lou Whitford took the first step
on the path that eventually led her to the College
of Education as dean and Wayne T. Smith distinguished
professor, she was a musician at heart.
In some ways, a childhood that included countless
hours at the piano provided an appropriate
foundation for her eventual transition into education.
Piano players are made through constant
practice. Lifelong educators are, in turn, fueled by
a passion for “doing and knowing,’’ the dynamic
Whitford described as one of her guiding forces.
Whitford began her career as a social studies
teacher at Kempsville (Va.) High School, teaching
world and U.S. history, government and sociology.
She eventually continued her education at the
University of North Carolina, completing a master’s
degree in political science and a doctorate in curriculum
and instruction. After teaching at Kempsville,
she served in a variety of roles, including
faculty positions at the University of Louisville and
as director of its Center of Urban Education Research,
as associate with the Center for Leadership
in School Reform, as a liaison for a university-public
school partnership, as co-director of Columbia
University Teachers College’s National Center for
Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching, as
dean and professor of the College of Education and
Human Development at the University of Southern
Maine and as a project manager and principal
investigator for numerous research projects.
All of those years of “doing and knowing’’ prepared
Whitford to be the College of Education’s
sixth dean. Whitford discussed her impressions of
Auburn and the College of Education.
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