Keynote Address

Robert J. Mahar, EdD

Associate Professor Emeritus

Dr. Robert J. Mahar was awarded the title of “Associate Professor Emeritus” on January 1, 2013 by the President of Temple University. He was an Associate Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning and served as the Associate Dean for Teacher Education in the College of Education from 2010-1012. Dr. Mahar received his undergraduate degree from Westfield State University (MA), a Master's Degree from Boston University, with a concentration in Science Education and Reading/Literacy, and his EdD degree was awarded at Wayne State University in the area of Curriculum Studies.

He was a Middle Grades teacher (Grs. 7-9) for five years in the Hartford, CT urban area. For three summers he was a staff member on the Harvard-Newton Summer School MAT Program, where he was an elementary classroom demonstration teacher and mentor/supervisor for four Harvard MAT students.  He has been a consultant to urban school districts in Boston, Hartford, Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Las Vegas. From 1960-1966 he was an instructor at Wayne State University in Detroit,  was appointed to an Assistant Professorship at Emory University in 1966, and relocated to Temple University in 1968. His focus at Temple University has been Literacy/Reading Education and how they best support effective learning in the content areas.

Thomas J. Walker, EdD

Professor Emeritus

Dr. Walker is retiring after 28 years at Temple and after 45 years in Education.  His professional interests and scholarship include peer-reviewed articles, monographs, book chapters, edited works, editorials, and technical reports and focus on alternative teacher education programs, workforce education programs, and performance-based teacher education and assessment. His projects address teachers, school administrators, and teacher educators and span secondary and post-secondary settings regionally and nationally.  

He has been the Director of the Center for Professional Development in CTE for 21 years and has been either fully or partially responsible as a PI or Co-PI for securing over $30 million dollars in state/federal grants for Temple.  Dr. Walker is the principal architect of the College of Education’s performance assessment system and teacher education standards used to assess all education majors for initial teacher certification. He has served the COE as Associate Dean for Teacher Education and as the Chairperson of the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Technology in Education, the predecessor to the Department of Teaching and Learning. His portfolio also includes directing Temple’s 5-year bachelor/masters’ accelerated degree program, and directing Temple’s E=mc2 program and co-directing the TUteach and Noyce Scholars programs, three grant funded STEM teacher preparation collaborations between the COE and the College of Science and Technology.  

Dr. Walker has served as the President of the National Association of Industrial and Technical Teacher Education (NAITTE) and as the Editor of the Journal of Industrial Teacher Education (JITE).  He has received the PA Teacher Educator of the Year Award from both the PA Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators and the PA Association of Career and Technical Education.

Undergraduate Student Keynote Speaker

Nicholas T. Nguyen, BS'13

Nicholas is a native of Lansdale, Pennsylvania, and graduated from North Penn High School in 2008. He is a Secondary Social Studies Education graduate and has been a dual education and history major since freshman year. He transferred to Temple starting his sophomore year after attending Penn State and Montgomery County Community College. During Nicholas’s time at Temple, he became a Freemason at a Philadelphia Masonic lodge where he has served as the Senior Master of Ceremonies. He has also been initiated into the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society, Kappa Delta Pi Education Honor Society, and the Golden Key Academic Honor Society. Nicholas has completed all four years of the ROTC program at Temple, and will commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Reserve’s 98^th Training Division as a Signal officer. After Temple, Nicholas looks forward to pursuing a career in education, law enforcement, or federal public service. 

Graduate Student Keynote Speaker

Carl Bernard Snell, M.Ed'13

Carl Snell is a native of Wrightsville, GA currently residing in Philadelphia, PA with his wife Sylvonnia. Carl graduated from MCP-Hahnemann University with a Masters of Medical Science in May 2000 where he was a tutor and summer instructor for Community College of Philadelphia’s Health Careers Opportunity Program. He also served as a reading and math coach for Philadelphia Reads.

In 1997, Carl earned a B.S. in Biology from Georgia Southern University where he worked as a teacher’s assistant and laboratory prep technician within the Chemistry Department. This was after being a member of Navy ROTC and traveling to California, Italy, France, and Turkey while also attending Savannah State College.

Carl is currently teaching 9^th grade science at The Mathematics, Civics, & Sciences Charter School, a K-12 college prep school in Philadelphia after completing the E=MC2 program here at Temple. Carl is a 2011Noyce Scholar and E=MC2 STEM grant recipient.