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Faculty Bio

Dr. Sowders spent thirty one years in public education before joining the university faculty in 2001. During that time he was a high school classroom teacher, department chair, and central office administrator responsible for curriculum coordination in social studies. During that time he presented and several state and national conferences and served on state taskforces for the Maryland School Assessment Program and the development of the Voluntary State Curriculum. He also was the facilitator for the Gay and Lesbian Network special interest group as part of ASCD. He joined the university faculty in 2001 and has worked with Baltimore ProMAT (Project Site Support), FlexMAT, and is currently the secondary cohort coordinator for the SIMAT program. His work in teacher preparation includes the coordination of three Professional Development Schools and two partnership schools in Howard County. He has made presentations at national conferences focusing on the Johns Hopkins MAT program and technology education. He has served on the Civility and Diversity Committee and currently chairs the Field Experience and clinical Practice Committee. In both 2003 and 2008 he was the primary author of the NCATE SPA report for Social Studies. Outside of the university, he has volunteered for HERO and served as a “buddy” for patients with AIDS. His primary research interests are in Social Justice and Social Studies Education.

To contact Dr. Sowders, call 410-516-9759 or email him at sowders@jhu.edu

Faculty CV

Education

Ph.D. (Curriculum and Instruction) University of Maryland (1982)

M.A. (History) University of California, Santa Barbara (1969)

B.A (History) University of California, Santa Barbara (1967)

Professional Experience

Instructor, Department of Teacher Preparation, The Johns Hopkins University 2001- Present

Coordinator of Fine Arts and Social Studies, Howard County Public School System 1981- 2001

Classroom Teacher and Central Office Specialist, Montgomery County Public School System 1969-1981

Scholarly/Research Interests

Social Studies Education
Teacher Preparation
Gay and Lesbian Studies
Social Justice Issues in Education

Current Activities - Grants/Sponsored Research/Partnership Activities

Coordination of the Secondary School Immersion Program working with three Professional Development Schools. Doubled the size of the program for the next academic year.

Selected Publications

Has submitted a paper for review to the National Social Science Association “Revealing, Developing, and Assessing Content Knowledge in a Teacher Preparation Program”.