McMullen
 “Mary serves as a good model and mentor because of her own commitment to her students’ learning, and because she practices what she preaches. Mary’s talk is her walk.”
—Judith Longfield, former student, doctoral candidate and associate instructor in the School of Education, IU Bloomington |
President’s Award for Teaching
Excellence
For Mary McMullen, emulation is the highest form of flattery—and as a teacher of teachers, one of her pedagogical objectives. Her instruction in early childhood education, a blend of short lectures, discussion, group activities and inquiry-based projects, puts learning in the hands of her students, reflecting her belief that “knowledge is largely constructed by learners, not delivered by instructors.”
But possibly even more important are the lessons that McMullen models outside the classroom. In their course evaluations, students repeatedly cite McMullen’s accessibility, flexibility and willingness to support them not just as learners, but as people. In fact, her compassion and ability to teach the whole student has garnered her a following among international graduate students.
“I do not know of many other faculty,” said Cary Buzzelli, chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, “who constantly seek out ways to expand their students’ thinking and experiences about their future career, who see part of their job as helping students delve into their chosen profession in ways that they could not imagine when they started the program.”
McMullen’s success with students has not gone unrecognized. Just a year after coming to IU, she received the Teaching Excellence Recognition Award from the School of Education, which she earned again in 1997 and 1998. Three times, in 2000, 2001 and 2003, McMullen earned the IU Trustees Teaching Award, and in 2004, she was honored with the Graduate Women Educators Network Award for Excellence in Mentoring.
Behind her consistent record of quality teaching is McMullen’s own scholarly inquiry and contributions to the study of early childhood education. For her, finding the best ways to reach students is not just classroom practice; it forms the core of her research. In 20 articles and more than 60 presentations, she has explored and compared international perspectives on best teaching practices and, here at home, investigated the factors—education, social, economic and cultural—that influence pedagogical practice in early childhood education.
As a teacher, mentor and scholar, McMullen’s example has impressed her colleagues and her students. Becky Dixon, a former student and now a classroom teacher, said: “She does much more than pass her knowledge and expertise on to others. She challenges others to think, question and formulate their own ideas (as she honors their) individuality and diversity. Her passion for her field, her research, for her teaching is contagious.”
|
