Welcome Dr. Devery Rodgers - Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership
The College of Education welcomes Dr. Devery Rodgers, Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership. Dr. Rodgers is one of two new faculty members to join the College this fall! Read below to learn more about what Dr. Rodgers hopes to inspire in and teach her students, her research interests, and why she chose the College of Education at CSULB.
I appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with a growing program which focuses on equitable opportunities, the heart of education leadership! Go-o-o Beach!
As a community service component of my undergraduate education, I tutored reading at a neighborhood library. When I taught a 70-year-old woman how to read, and she cried after reading her Bible for the first time on her own... That kind of life impact is indelible!
Mid-career, when my leadership was creating inequitable opportunities (because my students were receiving far more opportunities for advancement than other students), my mentors and I knew it was time to officially enter the ranks of educational leadership.
Having served in Education Technology Leadership most of my career, that is my research agenda. I have interests in the entirety of the field, specifically
· Tech Equity for Black Girls
· Instructional Technology Professional Development
· Digital Technologies in Teaching and Learning
· Community & Family Connections with EdTech
There are a few guiding principles I’ve embodied throughout my career, evidenced in these quotes:
· Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
· (especially in my occupassion of EdTech) borrowed from Jon Dewey: “If we teach today’s students like we did yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.”
· “A hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove. But the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.” (inspired from Forest Witcraft)
I hope my students see a resilient leader who has a heart for supporting knowledge, listening for the real concern, and acting upon such with compassion and competence.
I hope to teach my students that every point of impact has ripples.
I hope my walk and talk inspires my students to be change agents who continually engage in self-reflection, capitalize on their experiences, and lead the changes they want to see in the world.
