FACULTY PROFILE
"I am an Associate Professor in the Elementary Education program in the College of Education and Human Development, where I teach Social Science in the Elementary Grades and supervise pre-service teacher candidates. I joined the faculty at GSU in 2018, after working as an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, Texas, for two years.
I earned my Bachelor’s degree in History from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, along with a licensure to teach history at the secondary level. I began my teaching career as a 6th grade social studies teacher in Portsmouth, Virginia. I then served as a K-12 Social Studies Curriculum Specialist in Portsmouth for five years, during which time I earned my Master’s degree in History from Old Dominion. After moving to southwest Virginia, I returned to the classroom full time for one year and taught World Geography and US History at Floyd County High School, before beginning a doctorate program in Curriculum and Instruction at Virginia Tech.
My research interests are centered on social studies education and using children’s literature to teach social studies. I am passionate about helping future teachers realize that teaching social studies does not have to be boring and consist of only memorizing names and dates. I work to help my pre-service teachers learn how to make social studies engaging, exciting, and hands on. We also learn to critically analyze history and consider how to introduce elementary students to different perspectives and ideas that are often overlooked in social studies curricula."
- Dr. Lisa K. Pennington