Kristen McMaster, Stern Family Professor of Reading Success, became chair of the Department of Educational Psychology (Ed Psych) in July. McMaster earned her PhD in special education from Vanderbilt University and came to the department in 2002 as a lecturer in the special education program. She moved to a tenure track position one year later and has called the department her academic home ever since. 

McMaster says her experiences in Ed Psych have helped her to “grow as a scholar and contributed to the joy and satisfaction she finds in her work.” And as chair, she is looking to pay it forward. McMaster envisions a department where faculty, staff, and students find fulfillment and meaning in their work each day.

“It is a place where the excellent research, teaching, and mentorship that happens every day is evident in the spaces we occupy and in all the things that we do,” she says.

A leader in the field of special education, McMaster researches ways to improve how academically diverse students—including those at-risk for and with disabilities and students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds—respond to interventions. She currently serves as principal investigator or co-principal investigator on three federally funded research grants. And in recent years, McMaster gained valuable leadership experience overseeing undergraduate, graduate, licensure, and certificate programs as special education program coordinator.