Damara Hightower Mitchell

About Damara Hightower Mitchell

Dr. Damara Hightower Mitchell has served in leadership roles in K-20 settings including teacher and administrator; Education Associate for Educator Preparation at the South Carolina State Department of Education; Assistant Professor and Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Accreditation at Claflin University; academic administrator in the Office of the Provost as lead for assessment at the University of South Carolina-Columbia and its four regional campuses; the Dean of Education, Health and Human Services and Associate Professor at her undergraduate alma mater, Benedict College; the Vice President for Engagement and Partnerships at the Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity, a national non-profit that provides technical assistance to educator preparation programs at Minority Serving Institutions; and is currently the CEO of the national, self sustaining, non-profit and 501c(3), the Center of Excellence for Educator Preparation at Voorhees University, which she founded as an outgrowth of an academic unit she established while simultaneously as serving the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Having earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Education from Benedict College, a Master of Education in Educational Leadership and Supervision-K-12 from the University of Southern Mississippi, a Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of South Carolina, Damara has also studied education internationally as an ESL teacher in Holon, Israel, an International Perspectives in Higher Education Delegate in Dublin, Galway, and Limerick Ireland, and as a Fulbright Hays Scholar in Cameron and Ghana in West Africa. Dr. Hightower Mitchell is clear her purpose is to help others create the lives they desire and deserve through education. Her scholarship and publications center educator preparation at HBCUs, African Diaspora Literacy, and the intersectionality of being a mother and educator. While grateful for the 360-degree view of education her career has afforded, Damara’s greatest joy is found in those moments spent simply as Damara Mitchell, Roger’s wife and Drake’s “mom boss.”

Experience

1. Founding Executive Director, Center of Excellence for Educator Preparation and Innovation

   Voorhees College

   Nov 2020 — Present · Denmark, SC, US

   The aim of the Center of Excellence for Educator Preparation and Innovation at Voorhees College is to create equitable learning outcomes for students in underserved, high need areas and subjects by creating innovative pathways and models for increasing teacher effectiveness, addressing teacher shortages, and diversifying the teacher workforce in South Carolina and the Nation.

Education

• Benedict College

  Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), English Education

  1991 — 1995

• University of South Carolina

  Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Curriculum and Instruction

  2003 — 2007

• The University of Southern Mississippi

  Master of Education (M.Ed.), Educational Leadership and Supervision K-12

  1997 — 1998