Mary Brownell, Ph.D.

Advisory Board – Director of the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform Center

Research Interests:
Special education and teacher policy

Mary Brownell, Ph.D., is a Professor of Special Education at the University of Florida and Director of the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEDAR Center), an OSEP funded project designed to improve the preparation of teachers and leaders working with students with disabilities. Dr. Brownell has secured multiple grants (totaling over 42 million dollars) from the U.S. Department of Education (U.S. DOE), Office of Special Education Programs and Institute for Education Sciences to support research and technical assistance aimed at improving teaching quality for students with disabilities. Specifically, she has studied issues related to teacher education, teacher assessment, professional development, and teacher attrition.

Dr. Brownell’s research efforts have culminated in numerous refereed publications, book chapters, books, and presentations. She and her colleagues edited the first Handbook of Research on Special Education Teacher Preparation, and she recently authored a chapter for the prestigious Handbook for Research on Teaching, published by the American Educational Research Association. She has been recognized nationally for her leadership and research, winning the TED Pearson Award for Excellence in Teacher Education, the Division for Research Hallahan and Kauffman Distinguished Researcher Award, and the David Imig Teacher Achievement Award for lifetime achievement in teacher education. Dr. Brownell is also a devoted teacher and doctoral student mentor. She has received two awards for her undergraduate teaching and a university wide award for mentoring doctoral students. For relaxation, Dr. Brownell enjoys dancing, weight lifting, hiking, long walks on the beach, and time with family.