News

McMullen appointed Dean of Education and Professional Studies at Fort Valley State University

Recruitment and collaboration are among top goals

From the FVSU website

Fort Valley State University has named Dr. Rebecca C. McMullen as the dean of the College of Education and Professional Studies. Dr. McMullen has served as interim dean of the College of Education since 2016.

At FVSU, she successfully led the College of Education through a Georgia Professional Standards Commission continuing review for elementary education and special education and school counseling. Before she came to FVSU, McMullen served as program coordinator of special education at Georgia College and State University.

“Dr. McMullen has a passion for educating others, and it is through this passion, and her vision, that I expect great things from the newly formed College of Education and Professional Studies under her leadership,” said Dr. T. Ramon Stuart, FVSU provost and vice president for academic affairs.

As interim dean, she developed a strong appreciation for FVSU’s rich history, faculty, and students. As dean, McMullen hopes to build the national profile of the college by supporting both student and faculty development. She wants to increase enrollment and champion high impact practices which cultivate student academic excellence. She also wants to more aggressively use data and assessment to build a culture of continuous improvement and help inform student development efforts. Her goal is to attract a pipeline of high performing students.

“Collegiality and collaboration, both internally and externally, are extremely important to our growth,” said McMullen. “We need to build a large team of partners who can contribute insight and resources which will help our students achieve excellence.”

A native of Columbus, GA, McMullen attended Muscogee County public schools. She then studied at Mercer University where she obtained an undergraduate degree in special education before earning her graduate degree in learning disabilities at Augusta Regents University. McMullen earned her doctorate at Georgia State University in teacher preparation and learning disabilities. She has been published in the Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly and most recently in the Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice.

As a certified teacher with more than three decades of teaching experience, McMullen has an extensive history of successfully educating students from K-12 through graduate school. She has spent the last decade focusing on teacher preparation and mentoring undergraduate research students. An advocate of high-impact practices, she strives to lead faculty not only pursuing their own scholarship, but also in encouraging scholarship for students through engagement in research, meaningful internships, and service learning.

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