USFSM Professor Elected to Board of National Educators Association

The University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee’s Marie Byrd has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE), which represents 1,300 teacher educators nationally within 41 regional and state chapters.

Byrd, EdD, is the director of USFSM’s School of Education. Her three-year, at-large term will begin in mid-February, after the association’s annual conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

“I am very excited that my colleagues from a national organization have recognized my work within this organization and that I will be able to contribute as a board member,” Byrd said. “My public school background as a teacher and administrator in the Miami-Dade County school system helped prepare me for this opportunity.”

Jane Rose, PhD, dean of USFSM’s College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences, which includes the School of Education, said she is proud of Byrd’s election to ATE.

Dr. Jane Rose
“Dr. Byrd’s election to the Board of Directors of the Association of Teacher Educators adds to the prestige of our already noteworthy School of Education, as well as to the national prominence of USFSM, the ‘hometown university’ for students in Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte and DeSoto counties,” Rose said.

Founded in 1920, ATE represents members’ interests before governmental agencies and educational organizations. The association publishes two journals, Action in Teacher Education and The New Educator, as well as various books and articles. It is among 11 educational organizations of the National Coalition of Educators that share a commitment to high quality teachers for the nation’s youth.

As a board member, Byrd will travel to national conferences and serve on committees that set association policy. A longtime ATE member, Byrd had been active in the group’s Florida and southern regional chapters, serving as president and a board member for both organizations. The national association is headquartered in Manassas, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C.

Byrd had previously been approached to seek election to ATE’s board, but declined, citing family commitments.

“The timing wasn’t right,” she said. “My daughter was very young and it would have required a lot of traveling and time away from home.”

Byrd will learn of her committee assignments in February. Before her election, she presented an information packet and letters of support to the board’s election committee. The committee interviewed Byrd and submitted her nomination to the association’s 1,300 members in February.

A prestigious appointment, Byrd said her work at ATE will also help highlight USFSM.

“It will list the university on the website, so I think it brings a more recognition to USF Sarasota-Manatee and to our School of Education,” she said. “I am very proud to serve on this national board and to have the opportunity to represent the interests of teacher educators across the nation.”