BOONE, N.C. — Dr. Elizabeth “Beth” Campbell has been named chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction (CI) in Appalachian State University’s Reich College of Education (RCOE). Her appointment began in July.

About her goals for the department, Campbell said, “My primary goal is to continue to do our very best for our students. Beyond that, my plan for this year is to get to know people, programs and processes as best I can — and here I mean students, faculty, staff and administrators in our college, across the university and in our region’s schools — so that we can build collaborative possibilities as they arise.”

Campbell earned a Ph.D. in English composition and Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She also holds an M.A. in folklore from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a dual B.A. in secondary education and United States history from State University of New York at Oneonta.

Campbell comes to Appalachian from Marshall University, where she served as associate professor of elementary and secondary education in the College of Education and Professional Development. She also served as the school’s program director of elementary and secondary education, program coordinator for the Ed.D. in curriculum and instruction, coordinator for the English as a second language (ESL) master’s program and certificate, and as an instructor in the graduate humanities program.

She has worked as a cultural resources consultant in North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia, an assistant professor of English at West Virginia State University and an adjunct instructor at Marshall University, University of Charleston, High Point University and Ball State University.

“I wanted to come to Appalachian for two reasons,” Campbell said. “Because our teacher education programs are known throughout the state and region for the quality of our graduates, and because I share the university’s commitment to sustainability, in all of the very broadest senses of that word.”

She continued: “Well, three reasons, actually: My family is scattered throughout North Carolina, and I have been trying to get home for a very long time.”

Campbell is the author or co-author of several books, including “Reimagining Contested Communities” (Policy Press, 2018); “Doing Ethnography Today” (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015); and “The Other Side of Middletown” (AltaMira, 2004), which won the 2005 Margaret Mead Award.

In May of this year, she and co-author Dr. Kate Pahl, professor of literacies in education at the University of Sheffield in England, gave an invited keynote titled “Re-imagining Contested Communities: The Power of Collaborative Research” at a collaborative research and writing conference at the Manchester Metropolitan University in Manchester, England.

In addition, Campbell has presented and given keynotes at regional, national and international conferences. She recently presented at the Twelfth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry in Urbana, Illinois (2016), the 39th Annual Conference of the Eastern Educational Research Association in Hilton Head, South Carolina (2017), and the 41st Annual Conference of the Appalachian Studies Association in Cincinnati, Ohio (2018).

Campbell has an avid interest in collaborative research, community and university partnerships and civic engagement. Her research focuses on the constitutive nature of collaborative research and writing and especially how it works — through shared agency, shared commitment and shared humanity — to make and remake those who engage it.

Campbell shared, “In the month or so that I’ve been here, I’ve had the opportunity to meet and talk one-on-one with nearly all of the CI faculty. I am so impressed with their passion for teaching and learning, their dedication to students — both here at Appalachian and at schools across the region — and their tremendous records of research and service.

“We’ve talked a lot about collaboration, its very emergent nature, and how the most unexpected things can happen when we commit to a common goal and work together to bring that goal to life. The whole becomes not greater, but something other than the sum of its parts. I think I’m most excited about that.”

About the Reich College of Education

Appalachian State University offers one of the largest undergraduate teacher preparation programs in North Carolina, graduating about 500 teachers a year. The Reich College of Education enrolls more than 2,000 students in its bachelor’s, master’s, education specialist and doctoral degree programs, with offerings that span multiple fields — from teacher preparation, counseling, and therapy, to higher education, school and student affairs administration, library science, educational leadership and more. With over 10,000 alumni employed in North Carolina public schools, there is at least one Reich College graduate in every county in the state. Learn more at https://rcoe.appstate.edu.

About Appalachian State University

As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, cost-effective education. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.

What do you think?

Share your feedback on this story.