Department of Leadership, Technology, and Human Development
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Educational Leadership
Russell O. Mays, Ed.D.
Assistant Professor: Educational Leadership
Georgia Southern University
I began my career in education as a teacher in 1969 following my graduation from George Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville, and served as a teacher, assistant principal and principal in the Metropolitan Public Schools of Nashville – Davidson County, TN for 28 years. In 1990, the Tennessee PTA honored me as Elementary Principal of the Year. My wife, Kathy, served as a kindergarten teacher during that period. We have two sons, Andrew and Sam, both of whom make us proud in their personal lives and in their professions related to graphic design and technology.
While working in the Davidson County Schools I completed an MS in educational psychology at the University of Tennessee, an EdS in administration and supervision at Tennessee State University, and an EdD in Educational Administration at Vanderbilt University. My formal education (schooling) was tempered and complemented by the thousands of students, parents, teachers, school staff members, community stakeholders, and colleagues with whom I have worked over the years; a continuous learning process that continues.
My higher education experience includes six years as a graduate faculty member at East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, where I served as program coordinator for the M Ed, EdS, and EdD programs in Educational Leadership and chaired many dissertations and six years as a graduate faculty member at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, where I also served as program director of the M Ed program, served for one year as the program director of the Ed D program in Educational Leadership, and chaired many dissertations.
Research interests include the Rosenwald Schools and other workings of the Rosenwald Foundation, Storytelling as a leadership / teaching tool, music and arts in education, the principalship (including issues of fitness in the principalship), school facilities, many areas of history and social change, and group/team leadership. Hobbies and interests include reading, music, storytelling, photography, creating stained glass, and writing poetry.
Last updated August 28, 2009