East Carolina University has been selected as a partner institution in a national center dedicated to improving teacher education and educational leadership in rural areas.
The University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) Center for Innovative Rural Collaborative Leadership Education (CIRCLE) will establish and emphasize research-practice partnerships through engagement with schools, businesses and community organizations.
“Rural educators are underserved, underfunded and underrepresented,” said Dr. Matthew Militello, ECU’s Wells Fargo Distinguished Professor in Educational Leadership in the College of Education. “This is true in eastern North Carolina, the region ECU serves. Yet, we have numerous assets in the ECU College of Education to partner with our communities’ rich history, culture and people in eastern North Carolina. As a CIRCLE partner, we can expand and sustain research-practice partnerships locally and nationally.”
Dr. Matthew Militello will serve as an associate director in CIRCLE, a national center dedicated to rural education.
Militello will serve as an associate director of CIRCLE, along with faculty from host institutions Clemson University, Kansas State University and North Carolina State University. He has worked closely with UCEA for over 20 years and notes that this national partnership will allow the COE and ECU’s Rural Education Institute (REI) to learn side by side with other rural communities.
“CIRCLE aligns with REI’s belief that to make real, lasting change, we need to honor the ‘power of place’ and the ‘wisdom of people,’” said Militello. “By working in a national consortium, the College of Education faculty and local educators can expand opportunities to bring more resources and support to eastern North Carolina that our educators need and our students deserve.”
This work aligns with ECU’s missions of regional transformation and public service and will build on the community learning exchanges that Militello has led since 2014. These exchanges are opportunities for school and district educators to engage with families, students and community members on local educational issues.
A focus of CIRCLE is to combat the unique challenges faced by partner institutions including high and persistent poverty, high teacher and leader turnover, low funding and the logistical difficulties inherent in widely dispersed geographic rural areas.
“Everyone involved in CIRCLE supports robust partnerships across all aspects of preK-12 schools, including educational leadership, teacher development and counseling education,” said Dr. Kristen Cuthrell, director of CIRCLE and chair of Clemson University’s Department of Education and Human Development. “We will engage local, state and national partners early and often in all aspects of the work.”
Additional CIRCLE leadership joining Militello and Cuthrell include:
- Associate Director Dr. Lisa Bass, associate professor at North Carolina State University
- Associate Director Dr. Karen Eppley, professor of rural education and director of the rural education center at Kansas State University
- Associate Director Dr. Hans Klar, professor and chair of the Department of Educational and Organizational Leadership Development at Clemson University.
You can learn more about the work Militello and the consortium are conducting by visiting the CIRCLE website.