Baylor Education Professor Elected for National Leadership Position at ATE

Media Contact: Eric Eckert, Baylor University Media and Public Relations, 254-710-1964
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WACO, Texas (Sept. 16, 2020) – Baylor University education professor Rachelle Meyer Rogers, Ed.D., is on a fast track to the top post in the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE), a national organization of school and university faculty who provide professional preparation for teacher candidates. ATE promotes quality teacher education through both exemplary clinical practice and research.

Rogers, clinical associate professor in Baylor School of Education, was elected this spring by members in a nationwide ballot as second vice president for 2020-21. That role will transition into first vice president for 2021-22, and Rogers will serve as president of the organization in 2022-23.

A mathematics educator, Rogers also serves as coordinator of Baylor’s middle school certification program. She supervises candidates in their field experiences, as well as teaches the middle school mathematics methods courses in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction.

“I am thrilled to have a voice on a national stage,” Rogers said. “COVID-19 is obviously changing the face of teaching; teachers — and those who educate teachers — are seeing unprecedented challenges. Teachers must have an active voice and a leadership role in what is happening in the field.”

Rogers said that in her role at ATE, she hopes to expand the footprint and diversify the membership, especially inviting more K-12 educators to participate because of their important role in the clinical experiences of college students preparing to be teachers.

She is also committed to ATE’s longstanding advocacy for equity in education. Rogers said, “With what is going on in the world right now, this issue is at a critical juncture; ATE wants to be an organization where difficult conversations happen and professionals grapple with the uncomfortable truths about systemic racism and inequities in education.”

Rogers thinks of ATE as the “protector” of the teaching profession. Rogers said, “As leaders in teacher preparation, the organization’s members are pivotal in deciding whom to recruit as teachers, how to develop them, and how to retain them in the profession.”
Rogers has won numerous awards, including Baylor’s Outstanding Faculty Award in Teaching in 2018 and an Award for Excellence from the School Science and Mathematics Association (SSMA) in 2013 in recognition of her efforts to integrate science and mathematics. Rogers also was recognized for her outstanding teaching as a 2013-2014 Baylor University Fellow. Her work with the SOE’s Professional Development School (PDS) partnership was recognized as part of the 2017 Exemplary Achievement Award from the National Association for Professional Development Schools (NAPDS). She received the ATE Distinguished Dissertation in Teacher Education Award in 2007.

Along with Baylor SOE colleague Barbara Purdum Cassidy, Ed.D., Rogers has been co-chair of the ATE Emerging Scholars Program since 2012. Rogers has served on numerous ATE committees-planning conferences, reviewing research proposals, strategic planning, and public relations. She has presented her own research at many conferences and published in ATE’s prestigious publications, Action in Teacher Education and the ATE Annual Yearbook. Rogers joined the ATE national board in 2018, after her election by the membership nationwide.

ABOUT BAYLOR SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

For more than 100 years, Baylor educators have carried the mission and practices of the School of Education to classrooms and beyond as teachers, leaders in K12 and higher education, psychologists, academics/scholars and more. With more than 50 full-time faculty members, the school’s growing research portfolio complements its long-standing commitment to excellence in teaching and student mentoring. Baylor’s undergraduate program in teacher education has earned national distinction for innovative partnerships with local schools that provide future teachers deep clinical preparation, while graduate programs culminating in both the Ed.D. and Ph.D. prepare outstanding leaders, teachers and clinicians through an intentional blend of theory and practice. Visit www.baylor.edu/soe to learn more.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 18,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.