RE-PITCHING THE TENT:
Leading in Universities Today
BIO
Donna Breault is the Acting Provost and Executive Vice President of New Jersey City University. Her academic roots lie in curriculum studies, organizational theory, and the work of John Dewey.
Prior to serving at New Jersey City University, Donna served as the dean of the College of Education at Ashland University for five years. She has also served professor and/or administrator at five other universities - primarily working with doctoral students in leadership and curriculum studies. Before entering the academy, Donna served as a teacher and administrator in the Atlanta, GA area.
Donna also served as a 2017/2018 Fellow for Deans for Impact.
SELECT PUBLICATIONS
PARTNERSHIPS FOR PREPARING LEADERS: WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM PDS RESEARCH?
December, 2010, International Journal of Leadership in Education
(Co-author, Rick Breault) Researchers have long lamented the lack of research regarding the preparation of school leaders. In response, we offer lessons about school and university partnerships from exemplary professional development school (PDS) research to inform collaborative efforts for leadership preparation. We conducted an extensive literature review of 250 studies spanning a 15‐year period. Based upon three levels of qualitative meta‐synthesis, we identified 49 exemplary studies from the original 250. We then identified themes involving resources, change, and relationships
EXPERIENCING DEWEY: INSIGHTS FOR TODAY'S CLASSROOMS
2013, Routlege
(co-author Rick Breautl) Experiencing Dewey: Insights for Today’s Classroom offers an inspiring introduction to one of the most seminal figures in the field of education. In this collection of essays, contemporary authors consider their favorite quotations from John Dewey’s bountiful works and share how Dewey has impacted their teaching practices. Responses are organized around the themes introduced in the first edition: active learning, the educative experience, critical thinking, inquiry and education, and democratic citizenship, plus a new section on accountability added for the second edition. Quotes and responses are kept deliberately brief as an effective way of inviting readers to reflect on and experience Dewey.
Co-published with Kappa Delta Pi, International Honor Society in Education, Experiencing Dewey remains a powerful resource for current and aspiring teachers. This thoroughly updated edition also includes online resources for teacher educators to help facilitate the book’s use in higher education courses.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS: RESEARCHING LESSONS FROM THE FIELD
2012, Rowman & Littlefield
(Co-author, Rick Breault) Professional Development Schools: Researching Lessons from the Field provides a comprehensive analysis of PDS research that can aid PDS stakeholders in designing and sustaining meaningful research in their partnerships. Breault and Breault used an extensive qualitative meta-synthesis to examine the research over the past 20 years. Their comprehensive review of 300 studies provides a.deep understanding of the challenges and potential within PDSs. The authors offer analysis regarding key elements of PDSs and highlight strong studies including a large-scale, multi-site study and studies using mixed methods and action research effectively. They also highlight exemplary studies showing how pilot studies are effective ways to research new partnerships, how theory can lead to greater abstraction, and how metaphor can clarify complex relationships. This book is an essential resource for all stakeholders involved in professional development schools.
THE RED LIGHT IN THE IVORY TOWER: CONTEXTS AND IMPLICATIONS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL EDUCATION.
2012, Peter Lang
(co-author, David Callejo-Perez) "The Red Light in the Ivory Tower: Contexts and Implications of Entrepreneurial Education" critically analyzes the operational behaviors of prestigious and prestige-seeking universities, particularly within the context of budget shortfalls and increasing competition. The book challenges entrepreneurial activities within universities by exploring the costs of such ventures in terms of honoring commitments to faculty and students while maintaining integrity of institutional purpose. The book offers six case studies that illustrate the organizational behaviors influenced by prestige indicators. Ultimately, the book challenges readers to address the complex issues of leadership and power within the context of social, political, economic, and historical influences within higher education. By asking difficult questions about the entrepreneurial behaviors of prestigious and prestige-seeking universities, stakeholders can reimagine and reclaim a sense of purpose that can ultimately influence organizational identities and thus the degree to which their universities support and serve their students, faculty, and community.
CURRICULUM AS SPACES: AESTHETICS,COMMUNITY, AND THE POLITICS OF PLACE
2014, Peter Lang
(co-authors David Calleijo-Perez & William White) This book can be viewed as a holistic approach to education, conservation, and community development that uses place as an integrating context for learning. It argues that curriculum and place is a much deeper subject, with roots in aesthetics, community, and politics that go beyond the individual and profoundly address the formation of our current belief system.
Nov. 11, 2013, Teaching and Teacher Education
This article addresses the challenges PDS partnerships face as they go to scale. Based on
Coburn's (2005) notions of scale, the article uses organizational theory to analyze data from
a ten-year qualitative meta-synthesis of PDS partnership research. Based upon the analysis,
the article offers four recommendations: PDS partnerships should sustain strong trajectories
of research regarding their work; Stakeholders in PDS partnerships need to ensure that
faculty and staff have adequate support to thrive; PDS partnerships need to be based upon
enabling bureaucratic structures; and PDS partners need to create opportunities to engage
with each other in positive, normative spaces.
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