Feb. 19, 2008

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Carol Marchel, an associate professor of education in the Richard W. Riley College of Education, will help develop service-learning sites at area schools as Winthrop’s third Thompson Scholar.

The ultimate aim, she said, would be for education majors in her Psychology of the Learner course to participate in diverse school settings where they will develop case studies which include the analysis of children’s cognitive development and learning. Service-learning is a powerful tool, Marchel said, to support student dispositions toward compassion and community service and to benefit the community.

Winthrop officials praised Marchel’s efforts during her selection. “The work that will be done by Dr. Marchel is a reflection of both Winthrop’s strong commitment to educating its own students for personal and social responsibility, and the donors’ lifelong work to advance education at all levels, through support for faculty as well as students,” said President Anthony DiGiorgio. “It is in just such ways that the extended Winthrop family collaborates to fulfill the special role of a public university in serving its region.”

This is the third year for the Thompson Scholar, created by former Winthrop Board of Trustee Bob Thompson and his wife, Norma, of Rock Hill. The fund provides for reassigned time for two classes per year for a faculty member “to work on projects that strengthen the academic, intellectual, and co-curricular life of the university.”

Marchel was selected in 2006 as the College of Education’s Singleton Endowed Professor. She teaches courses in human development, educational psychology, educational issues for educational leaders, and legal, management and assessment issues in education.

During her first year at Winthrop in 2003, she and a colleague studied the causes and impacts of a high-profile high school drug raid in 2003 in Goose Creek, S.C. Their work was presented at a national conference and carried broad implications for school administrators and policy makers interested in school safety and school climate, particularly in schools with a history of racial tension.

Concerned about the need for students to become culturally competent as citizens and teachers, she serves as the chair of the College of Education’s Diversity Committee and on the university’s diversity team.

Marchel has worked as an adjunct assistant professor at Appalachian State University in the psychology department, as an instructor in the cultural studies department at University of Tennessee-Knoxville and as a school psychologist. During her 17 years as a school psychologist, Marchel worked in rural, urban, inner city and suburban schools with students of all ages.

Marchel holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, a master’s degree in school psychology from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Tennessee.