Educational Leadership and Administration - Faculty
Faculty members are university and field-based professionals who have extensive experience in school, school district, state, and national level positions.
Dr. Jennifer Clayton
Assistant Professor of Educational Administration
Dr. Clayton earned her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership at Old Dominion University and is also a former faculty member of Old Dominion University. As a career educator, Dr. Clayton has taught at the middle and high school levels and has served as a curriculum developer and evaluator, testing coordinator, and new teacher mentor. Dr. Clayton has held several roles in higher education including supervisor of student teachers, graduate teaching assistant, and adjunct instructor Dr. Clayton has published articles on pathways to the principalship, supervision of teachers with disabilities, best practices of principals, university-district partnerships, and the challenge of resegregation in US educational systems. She has also presented at both national and regional conferences on the topic of program evaluation, diversity in schools, pathways to the principalship, and university-district partnerships. Her research interests include leadership development and preparation, experiential learning for leaders, effective leadership for social justice in K-12 schools, and university-community-district education partnerships.
Dr. Marguerita DeSander
Visiting Assistant Professor of Educational Administration
Dr. DeSander earned her Ph.D. in Educational Policy, Planning and Leadership from the College of William and Mary and her J.D. from The Thomas M. Cooley Law School. She is the former assistant superintendent for human resources for Lincoln County (NC) schools, and executive director of human resources and coordinator of personnel for Williamsburg-James City County (VA) Public Schools. A former practicing attorney who specializes in employment-related legal matters, Dr. DeSander's research interests include educational law, personnel administration in education, educational policy and reform initiatives. She has presented and published on the topics of teacher evaluation and merit pay, tenure teacher dismissal for incompetence, and the incongruence of federal legislation regarding public education. Currently, Dr. DeSander serves on the Board of Directors for the Consortium for Educational Accountability and Teacher Evaluation and is the president-elect of the organization for the 2011-12 year.
Dr. Patricia Ehrensal
Assistant Professor of Educational Administration
Patricia A.L. Ehrensal holds an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Temple University and has served as faculty with Fordham University. Dr. Ehrensal has a special interest in School Boards and Governance and has served as a member of the Pottstown (Pennsylvania) School Board. She has presented papers at several conferences in the United States and internationally and has published articles in The Journal for a Just and Caring Education, Religion and Public Education, Educational Policy, Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, and Educational Administration Quarterly. Dr. Ehrensal is a co-author of "The American Melting Pot Versus the Chinese Hot Pot" in Ethical Leadership and Decision Making in Education: Applying Theoretical Perspective to Complex Dilemmas, and "Understanding School Board Politics: Balancing Public Voice and Professional Power" in the Handbook on the Politics of Education. Her research interests include: critical theory, postmodernism, organizational theory, education policy, law and education, politics of education, and education and social justice.
Dr. Everett (Ben) Howerton
Emeritus Professor of Educational Administration
Dr. Howerton is a former faculty member at the University of Virginia where he earned his Ed.D. He has served as president of The Synergy, Inc; as CEO of Information and Education Utility; as acting state superintendent of schools, coordinating state superintendent for special schools, chief deputy state superintendent; and as a school principal in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He is a recipient of the Council of Chief State School Officers Distinguished Educator Award. His research interests include organizational development, school governance, and educational law.
Dr. Linda K. Lemasters
Associate Professor of Educational Administration
Dr. Lemasters holds an Ed.D. and CAGS from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and an EdS and MSA from The George Washington University. Her areas of expertise and research include educational planning, facilities management, and educational reform issues. Dr. Lemasters actively conducts research concerning the effects of the facility on the student and teacher, publishes within her field, and has written or edited numerous books including School Maintenance & Renovation: Administrator Policies, Practices, and Economics and At the Tipping Point: Navigating the Course for the Preparation of Educational Administrators. She is editor of Educational Planning and is currently serving on the national and international boards of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration and the International Society of Educational Planning.
Dr. Virginia Roach
Associate Professor of Educational Administration
A graduate of Columbia University Teacher's College, Dr. Roach is a former director of the Teachers for a New Era Project at Bank Street College of New York and served as deputy executive director of the National Association of State Boards of Education. Her publications include: "State Policy and its Impact on Urban Reading Programs," in Literacy Development of Students in Urban Schools; and "Applications of a Policy Framework to Evaluate and Promote Large Scale Change," in Exceptional Children. Her research interests are in the areas of administrator preparation, education policy, and teacher development from an administrator's perspective. She was chair of GW's Department of Educational Leadership from 2006-2009.
Dr. Kelly Sherrill
Assistant Professor of Educational Administration
Dr. Sherrill earned her Ph.D. in Educational Administration and Policy from the University of Georgia and her J.D. from The George Washington University. Prior to joining the faculty at GW, Dr. Sherrill practiced law and represented public school systems in the states of Virginia and Georgia. She has served as guest lecturer on topics in special education law, school law, parental rights and first amendment clauses. Dr. Sherrill has presented at AERA, the Educational Law Association and the Mid-Atlantic Animal Law conferences. She has authored May School Districts Require Disclosure of an Applicant's Social Security Number, The Equal Access Act and Gay/Straight Clubs, Judicial Reiew: The Supreme Court Broadens the Scope of Drug Testing in Public Schools, U. S. Supreme Court: Peer Grading Does not Violate FERPA and Are School Vouchers Constitutional? Dr. Sherrill's research interests include legal concentration on special education law, constitutional law (First Amendment legal issues affecting K-12 education), FERPA, FOIA/Open Records and Meetings Acts, and student discipline.
Dr. Abebayehu A. Tekleselassie
Assistant Professor of Educational Administration
Dr. Tekleselassie received his Ph.D. in Educational Administration from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He served as faculty with Georgia Southern University and has also served as a department chair, the coordinator of distance education programs, and as a faculty member at the Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. His work has been published in the International Journal of Educational Development, the Journal of Educational Research and Reviews, the Journal of International Studies in Educational Administration, and the Journal of Higher Education in Africa. His research interests include the principalship, international educational reform, minority students' risk and resilience, and targeting subsidies in African higher education.
Dr. Rebecca Thessin
Assistant Professor of Educational Administration
A graduate of Harvard University's Graduate School of Education, Dr. Thessin holds an Ed.D. in the urban superintendency. She has served as the Director of School Improvement and Professional Development in Stamford, Connecticut, where she led the district's implementation of an improvement process for Professional Learning Communities and formed a Professional Development Council to author a Professional Learning Plan for Stamford. Dr. Thessin has served as Aide to the Deputy Superintendent in the Boston Public Schools where she coordinated professional development for principals. Her career has included serving as an administrator at a Boston high school and teaching in urban schools in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and West Virginia. Dr. Thessin is an author of Data Wise in Action. Her primary research focus is effective professional development for teachers and administrators, the use of data to improve instruction, school improvement, and urban district leadership.
Dr. James Tucker
Visiting Professor of Educational Administration
A former assistant superintendent/chief human resources officer with the York County School Division (Virginia) Dr. Tucker received his Ed.D. in Educational Administration and Supervision from Virginia Polytechnic and State University. He holds division superintendent qualifications and has served as director of school administration, secondary schools, middle schools, principal, and assistant principal in various public schools within Virginia. Dr. Tucker has also served as adjunct instructor for The George Washington University and J. Sergeant Reynolds Community College and has presented various papers at conferences and programs within the United States. His research interests are identification of key concepts for successful administrator training and curriculum design.
Dr. Henry I. Willett
Emeritus Professor of Educational Administration
Dr. Willett holds an Ed.D. in Educational Administration and Supervision from the University of Virginia and has also received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Curry School of Education - University of Virginia. He is former president of Longwood College, assistant superintendent of Chesapeake Public Schools, and elementary and secondary principal of Norfolk (Va.) Public Schools. In 2004, Longwood College renamed their field house Willett Hall in his honor. His research interests include educational law, strategic planning, and societal trends and issues.
The 2012 Edition of U.S. News & World Report ranks the Graduate School of Education and Human Development within the top 35 Best Education Schools.