Clark named 2008 Graduate Teacher of the Year

Her students describe her as genuine, candid and caring. Her research gets to the heart of one of most perplexing mysteries in education today.

Small wonder that Mary Ann Clark, an associate professor in Counselor Education and B. O. Smith Research Professor, has been selected as the University of Florida College of Education Graduate Teacher of the Year for 2008.

Clark is best known to the public for her research on the puzzle that is male academic underachievement. For most of American history, male students outperformed female students—no great surprise, given that teachers often saw male students as the only ones who would go on to college and careers. In our more egalitarian age, however, boys are falling behind. For the past two decades, boys have slid increasingly behind girls in academic achievement—not just in America but in other countries around the world. Clark is one of the lead investigators on a multi-year study that is looking at male underachievement in the United States, England, Australia and Korea.

Her students praise her for encouraging them to take an active role as researchers in this and other of Clark’s research projects . Clark asks her students to collect data in schools, includes them on e-learning with researchers abroad, and asks them to present results with her at conferences.

"A class never passes when students are not involved or do not learn something new," said doctoral student Summer Yacco. "(Dr. Clark) is the kind of professor I would one day hope to be."

Clark will be presented with the Graduate Teacher of the Year Award at the college’s May 3 baccalaureate commencement.