ATLANTA – Dr. Olivia M. Boggs, associate professor in Mercer University's Tift College of Education, was recently selected as a 2016 Governor's Teaching Fellow.
The Governor's Teaching Fellows Program was established in 1995 by Zell Miller, governor of Georgia from 1991-1999, to provide the state's higher education faculty with expanded opportunities for developing important teaching skills. Miller envisioned that this program would address faculty members' pressing need to use emerging technologies and instructional tools that are becoming increasingly important for learning in today's society.
Dr. Boggs will participate in the academic year symposia program, which allows participants to attend three-day symposia held six times over the course of the academic year while also engaging in instructional improvement projects on their home campuses. The symposia include a combination of structured instructional and faculty development activities as well as self-directed activities designed to meet individual needs.
“I can think of few people more deserving of this honor than Dr. Olivia Boggs,” said Dr. Jim Barta, dean of the Tift College of Education. “She is so capable of doing the heavy lifting required to collaborate with experts across the state to make excellent, instructional practice in our universities. It's not just Olivia's keen intellect that shines forth but also the radiance of her focus on people that sets her apart and makes her a perfect representative of our College and Mercer University.”
Prior to joining Mercer's faculty in August 2008, Dr. Boggs served in several academic and governmental posts, including director of the Research Division of the Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety, chairperson of the Educational Leadership Department at Clark Atlanta University, assistant director of Metro RESA, and associate academic dean at Morris Brown College. Her teaching and research centers on higher education leadership.
She earned her bachelor's degree in mathematics from Hampton University, master's degree in rehabilitation counseling from Boston University and Ph.D. in administration, planning and policy from Harvard University, where she was elected to the editorial board of the Harvard Educational Review.
Dr. Boggs is a former Ford Foundation Fellow and a member of several honor societies, including Phi Delta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, Delta Kappa Gamma and Pi Lambda Theta. She was the 2013 recipient of Mercer's Cathryn Futral Excellence in Teaching Award.
“I am grateful for and excited about this yearlong appointment with the Governor's Teaching Fellows Program,” said Dr. Boggs. “My focus will be to develop protocols designed to equip superintendents, board members, principals and teachers with the knowledge and skills needed to make prescriptive use of data for evidence-based school improvements. Critical to sustaining academic success is using local data to reach and teach all students, particularly those most vulnerable to failure.”
The Governor's Teaching Fellows Program is an outreach program of the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia. To improve the quality of instruction in the state's colleges and universities, the Governor's Teaching Fellows Program assumes the complex challenge of moving college faculty members to the leading edge of instructional practice.
To date, more than 89 subject areas, professions and teaching areas have been represented and Fellows have come from more than 61 public and private institutions statewide. For more information on the Governor's Teaching Fellows Program, visit ihe.uga.edu/outreach/governors-teaching-fellows.
About the Tift College of Education
Mercer University's Tift College of Education – with campuses in Macon, Atlanta and the University's three Regional Academic Centers – prepares more professional educators than any other private institution in Georgia. The College offers baccalaureate and graduate degrees, and is guided by the conceptual framework of the “Transforming Practitioner,” which supports those who aspire to grow professionally throughout their careers, while also seeking to transform the lives of students. education.mercer.edu
