Betty Merchant, Ph.D.

Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

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Bio

Born in a small village in upstate New York, on the Vermont and Canadian borders, Dr. Merchant taught all grade levels, in multi-cultural settings across the U.S. and on Native American reservations, prior to pursuing her Ph.D. in Administration and Policy Analysis at Stanford University. Before joining the faculty at UTSA, she was a tenured associate professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. At UTSA, Dr. Merchant has served as the first Chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at UTSA, and as Dean of the College of Education and Human Development. She now holds the Henrietta Frances Zezula Lowak Endowed Distinguished Professorship. Her research interests include diversity and educational reform, educational policy analysis, democratic school leadership in increasingly diverse and polarized political contexts, international comparative studies related to the educational and social experiences of refugee youth and their families, and longitudinal studies of school leadership.

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Mission

COEHD will be an international model for developing inclusive, transformative leaders guided by principles of community, integrity, excellence, scholarship and service. The COEHD will have a critical impact on the realization of human and community potential through its leadership in education, health and wellness, human development and policy studies. All programs of study include a focus on developing competencies for working effectively in multicultural and cross-national contexts.

Betty Merchant, Ph.D.