Melinda Bier
Melinda C. Bier is currently the Associate Director for the Center for Character and Citizenship, College of Education, University of
Missouri, St. Louis. Dr. Bier’s expertise spans the fields
of Character Education, teacher preparation and professional
development, and the design and use of instructional
technology for enhanced teaching and learning. She has
extensive experience in the adoption of K-12 educational
innovations, providing and managing professional development
for geographically and culturally diverse teachers, and in
the philanthropic sector.
Dr. Bier currently serves as a principal
investigator and/or project director for $3.5 Million in
active grants. These projects all involve assessing the
impact of school-based positive youth development
interventions on student outcomes – health, character, and
academic achievement. She has served as a consultant to US
Department of Education, Mathmatica Policy Research,
Character Education Partnership, and Caliber Associates on
issues related to program evaluation.
Dr. Bier recently co-authored a
comprehensive and interdisciplinary review of the scientific
literature supporting the development of character in school
age students with Marvin W. Berkowitz, Sanford N. McDonnell
Professor of Character Education, University of Missouri-St.
Louis. This work was funded by grants from the Character
Education Partnership, US Department of Education Office of
Safe and Drug Free Schools, and The John Templeton
Foundation.
In her previous positions as Visiting
Research Fellow and Program Officer with the James S.
McDonnell Foundation she administered the Cognitive Science
in the Classroom Program, reviewed scientific research
proposals, and investigated ways in which educational
institutions and not-for-profits could make use of the
Internet to more efficiently achieve their goals.
In her dissertation research she spent
more than 3 years investigating the ways in which low-income
families could make use of home computers and high speed
Internet access to strengthen the school-home-community
connection. This research won a NSF Dissertation Improvement
Award and was highlighted in scholarly publications
including Nature and The Scientist as well as in popular
media such as USA Today, National Public Radio and local
newspapers. She has been an advisor to the American
Association for the Advancement of Science and NSF on issues
related to ethics in cyberspace and the use of human
subjects in educational research.
As Assistant Director of the Space Coast
Center for Excellence she was responsible for the daily
operations of the Florida Department of Education’s regional
professional development and resource center, interpreting,
disseminating, and supporting the implementation of both
traditional and alternative methods of assessment and
evaluation, and coordinating teacher workshops and
curriculum development.
She has presented at international conferences and in the peer reviewed literature on the topics of Character Education, ethical concerns in educational research, and Internet use by underserved populations. Recently her work has appeared in Educational Leadership, The Handbook of Moral Education, and The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Her latest writing effort was commissioned by the Department of Education and entitled Mobilizing for Evidence-Based Character Education (2007). Secretary of Education Spelling recommended it to all federal grantees in her remarks to the League Town Hall Meeting in New York and is available for download from
http://www.ed.gov/programs/charactered/resources.html
Bier teaches graduate courses in the diffusion of educational innovations.