Retired district coordinator has earned her Ph.D.

Rob Novit

Jul. 6, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Mary Ella Brown can be described in a lot of ways -- wife, mother, grandmother, retired Aiken County educator and, at 61, baby boomer and senior citizen.

Now you can add Ph.D. to the list. Brown received a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of South Carolina in May, joined at the ceremony by her family.

In 2004 Brown had begun work on the doctorate. She had completed the coursework when she cut short her studies to take care of her husband, Marvin Jr., after he became ill. Brown retired in 2007 as a Title I coordinator in the school district's grants manager program. The following year, she decided to finish the Ph.D. program.

"I had started something and didn't finish it, and that gave me a little bit of assertion," Brown said. "I wanted to set an example."

She was inspired by the support of her family. Her late mother, Mildred Brown, has also been a big influence as an Aiken County teacher at Schofield High School and as a guidance counselor at Aiken Junior High.

Brown earned her undergraduate degree at Knoxville College, then received a master's degree in music from DePauw College in Greencastle, Ind. She went on to earn an educational specialist degree from USC.

After starting her career in the Richmond County schools, Brown spent the next 25 years in the Aiken school system. She served as a music teacher at Byrd, Gloverville and East Aiken elementary schools and also coordinated an after-school summer enrichment program at Jackson Middle School and other schools. Brown also taught piano privately.

While at East Aiken, she chaired an arts festival featuring music performances. Through a Public Education Partners grant, Brown obtained a computerized keyboard for the East Aiken music program.

Her doctoral work pulled her back to her own teaching roots -- a study of the influence that a summer school enrichment program could have on rural, southern low-income students. The data revealed that a summer school program could enhance their achievement in language arts and math, as well as their self-esteem.

"The findings of the research suggests that it is advantageous for rural school districts to allocate resources for summer school programs, since they do result in improving test scores and increasing student motivation," Brown said.

The work on her doctorate was stressful but fun, Brown said.

"I hope to do something with my degree," she said. "I'd like to be able to monitor student teachers who are coming from colleges. But if it doesn't happen, I'm still comfortable that I completed this task."

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.

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