Contact Information
College of Education
Matthews Hall, Room 214
1300 West Highland Street
Denton, TX 76203
Contact the College of Education
Mary McDonnell Harris
Position/Job Title:
Regents Professor, Teacher Education and Administration
Short Bio:
Emulating her mother, Dr. Harris aspired to become a teacher educator as an undergraduate at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, where she majored in English. She taught in secondary schools in Bethlehem and Carlisle, Pennsylvania, earned a master’s degree in Elementary Education, and taught elementary grades in Carlisle and in Castle Shannon, Pennsylvania, before earning the Ph.D. in English Language Communication Education at the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to coming to UNT in 2000, she served on the Curriculum and Instruction faculty at Kansas State University (1974-1986) and was dean of the College of Education and Human Development at the University of North Dakota (1986-1999). Formative experiences in her career have included the challenge of a first year of teaching, service at large public universities, and policy work at the state and national levels.
As Meadows Chair for Excellence in Education through August, 2011, she nurtures partnerships for UNT that contribute to the education of Texas public school students. Major current partnerships include the Teach North Texas mathematics and science teacher education program with the College of Arts and Sciences and Fort Worth, Denton, Lewisville, and McKinney ISDs, the North Texas Early College High School Consortium with the Dallas County Community College District and Carrollton Farmers Branch and Dallas ISDs, and the North Texas Regional P-16 Council. Research interests are in teacher development and the early career years of teaching. She most frequently teaches the introductory course in the initial EC-6 and 4-8 programs and EDCI 6460 Policy Analysis in Curriculum and Instruction.
Selected Publications
Harrell, P. E., Harris, M. M., & Jackson, J. K. (2009). An examination of teacher quality variables associated with passing state content tests. Journal of the National Association for Alternative Certification, 4(2), 18-39.
Harris, M. M. (2008). Standard 8: Teacher education profession. In R. McBee, S. Odell, & R. Houston (Eds.), Standards for teacher educators: Establishing a vision for the profession. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Harrell, P.E. & Harris, M. M. (2006). Teacher preparation without boundaries: A two-year study of an online certification program. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 14(4), 755-774.
Harris, M. M., & Miller, J. R. (2005, June). Needed: reincarnation of National Defense Education Act of 1958. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 14(2), 157-171.
Harris, M. M., & van Tassell, F. (2005. June). The professional development school as learning organization. European Journal of Teacher Education, 28(2), 179-194.
Harris, M. M., Holdman, L., Clark, R.., & Harris, T. R. (2005, Winter). Rural teachers in Project Launch. The Rural Educator. 26(2), 23-32.
Recent Conference Presentations
Brown, A.L., Harris, M.M., Jacobson, A.L., & Trotti, J.A. (2011, April). Parent teacher education connection? A web based model for preservice teacher education. American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, 2011.
Abraham, L., Ginsberg, R., Fleener, M. J., Wimbleberg, R., & Singer-Gabella, M. (My role: organizer) (2010, February), UTeach replication and institutional change. American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education 62nd Annual Meeting and Exhibits, Atalanta, 2010.
Laney, J. D., Harris, M., Mohr, K., & Procter, S. (2010, February). Assessing the professional dispositions of preservice teachers using the teacher dispositions index. Association of Teacher Educators 2010 Annual Meeting, Chicago.
Harris, M. M., Trotti, J. A., & Tucker, T. (2010, February). Intro to education online. Association of Teacher Educators 2010 Annual Meeting, Chicago.
Harris, M. M. (2009, May). Literacy in UTeach. NMSI-UTeach Annual Conference, Austin.
Harris, M. M., Willis, R., & Tucker, T. (2009, April). College going cultures in urban high schools. American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.
Harris, M. M. (2008, November). The road to college is paved with…a college going culture. Meeting of Texas High Schools Project, Austin, TX.
Jacobson, A., Harris, M., & Brown, A. (2008, March). Analysis of pre- and post assessment of attitude toward parent involvement survey: Factor analysis and application with pre-service teachers in four universities. International Roundtable of Scholars on School, Family, and Community Partnerships, New York, NY.
Recent Grants Awarded
2011-2014. Texas Instruments Foundation. Instructional Support for Teach North Texas. $534,294. Co-IP with John Quintanilla.
2011-2013. Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Academic Vertical Alignment Training and Renewal (AVATAR). $400,000. Co-P.I. with J. Keller.
2011-2012. Beginning Teacher Induction and Mentoring through a subcontract from UT-Austin. U Teach Regional Induction Expansion. $86,163. PI.
2009-2010. Texas Workforce Commission through a subcontract from UT-Austin. Teach North Texas Internships. $60,000. Writer and P.I.
2009-2012. Texas Instrument Foundation. Teach North Texas expansion. Writer, with J. Quintanilla.
2009-2012. Subcontract from Stephen F. Austin University from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Texas Educational Research Center for Educator Policy, Preparation, and Practice. $19,000. Writer and PI (co-PIs J. Tunks and J. Byrd).
2007-2008 Greater Texas Foundation through the UTeach Institute and National Math and Science Initiative. Replication of UTeach at UNT. PI with J. Quintanilla.
2007-2012. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement. UNT Transition to teaching science and mathematics program. Co-writer and co-PI with P. Harrell, P.I.
2007-2008. TG Public Benefit Foundation. Study of college going culture in urban high schools. P.I.
2007-2008.. Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. North Texas Regional P-16 Council planning grant. P.I.
2007 Center for Research, Evaluation, and Advancement of Teacher Education. UNT Teacher Education Scorecard. Principal Investigator
2005-2009. Communities Foundation of Texas/Texas High School Project. North Texas Early College High School Consortium. Writer and Co-PI with B. Bush.
Current Activities in Professional Organizations
National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, member Unit Accreditation Board.
North Dakota Study Group on Evaluation, Planning Committee, Scholarship Committee chair.
Memberships
American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (UNT representative)
American Educational Research Association
Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development
Association of Teacher Educators
National Association for Multicultural Education
Phi Delta Kappa