Dr. Randa Dunlap received her Ph.D. from East Tennessee State University, where she completed her dissertation on determining if classroom pets as part of an empathy-based intervention affect public elementary school students’ empathy. She received the 2020 NAECTE/Gryphon House Learning Outstanding Dissertation Award.
After working at a Reggio Emilia-inspired lab school, teaching multiple graduate- and undergraduate-level courses, and advising students in the early care and education program at ETSU, Dr. Dunlap then began working as an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina (Aiken), where she taught multiple language and literacy methods courses to preservice teachers.
She is a current member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and she serves on the Board of Directors for the Association for Constructivist Teaching.
Her research areas focus on the following:
- Implementing project work with young children;
- Utilizing literacy as a tool to promote more culturally responsive classroom environments;
- Promoting empathy and other prosocial behaviors with young children; and
- Examining the effects of classroom pets on children's empathy.
Title: Assistant Professor, Child Development
Department: Department of Child Development, Literacy, and Special Education
Email address: Email me
Phone: (828) 262-8386
Office address
501College of Education Building