Carol Mullen Recognized by FASCD

Article from School Leadership News, The AERA Division A Newsletter, Issue 13, Fall 2005

Carol A. Mullen, Associate Professor, University of South Florida, received the 2005 Florida Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (FASCD) Excellence Award for Excellence in Instructional Supervision. She was recognized for having made an outstanding
contribution to quality educational practice that enhances the growth and development of students. The award results from her work in the Writers in Training (WIT) Doctoral program that she created and continues to lead. The program is based on a mentoring cohort model
comprised of her protégés.

This initiative in educational leadership has the dual agenda of preparing students as dissertation researchers and as scholar– practitioners. The program combines the best attributes of informal mentoring with structured components, which include bimonthly meetings, turn taking, and guidelines for producing work found in formal heuristics. For five years now, WIT members have been meeting at the university and at Mullen’s home on weekends. Members also exchange notices and files online via the WIT listserv. Because the university calendar does not dictate when and where the students meet—one draw of a non- institutionalized cohort structure—sessions are flexibly arranged over the duration of a student’s program. Each meeting has a student-driven agenda where individuals are able to add their work, “as needed” on a rotational basis. Agenda items feature literature reviews, research instruments, and dissertation proposals and chapters.

A large group of Ed.D. and Ph.D. students identify themselves as "The WITs” mainly full-time, diverse K-12 practitioners in various stages of doctoral coursework, prospectus writing, or final defense. Several of the WITS have defended their dissertations and are able to provide mentoring and coaching to those still in the process. Most are striving to become principals and, a few, superintendents and professors. The WITs have participated as coauthors of Carol’s, and several have been awarded paid research assistantships through her grants. Two of the WITs are also employed as Mullen’s editorial assistants for the Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning journal (Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group).

Finally, several case-based empirical studies of the WIT cohort have been produced, which identify the success of the members in three areas: developing a sense of identity and belonging, supporting learning and attainment of dreams, and experiencing a vibrant faculty–student support model. Resulting publications have appeared in several places, including the Journal of Further and Higher Education and in chapter form in Fire and ice: Igniting and Channeling Passion in New Qualitative Researchers.