HAMPDEN – Andrea Stairs, Hampden Academy Class of 1990 alumna and daughter of Robert and Shirley Stairs of Hampden, earned a doctorate in education from Boston College in 2006.

Dr. Stairs specialized in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in teacher education.

Her dissertation, titled “Preservice teacher learning in an urban school-university partnership,” examined the outcomes of her collaboration with Boston public schools to prepare Boston College students for urban teaching.

Findings from her study suggest that a site-based teacher preparation experience in the context of a strong school-university partnership shows promise for recruiting and preparing middle-class, white student teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse high school students.

Stairs has published her research on urban teacher preparation in peer-reviewed journals, has edited books and presented her findings at national conferences.

Her teaching, research and service were recognized while she was a student at Boston College.

In 2003 she received the Donald J. White Teaching Excellence Award, and in 2006 she received the Lynch School of Education Contribution to Community Award.

Stairs is currently assistant professor of English education at the University of Tennessee, where she teaches graduate courses in English methods and action research.

Before becoming a professor, Dr. Stairs earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Colby College and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from Boston College. She taught secondary school English in New Hampshire and Colorado and conducted professional development with high school teachers as a literacy coach and consultant throughout Massachusetts.

Stairs credits some of her favorite Hampden teachers for her interest in education, including Ellen Hutchins, Robin Balentine and Lea Ward, as well as her Hampden Academy guidance counselor, Burt Payson.