Dr. Gwen Benson serves as the associate dean for school, community and international partnerships in the College of Education at Georgia State University. She previously served as coordinator of the Low Incidence Disabilities Unit of the Division for Exceptional Students in the Georgia Department of Education; director of educator preparation for the Georgia Professional Standards Commission; and director of the Program for Exceptional Children with the Atlanta Public Schools. She was an associate professor at Southern University at Baton Rouge, La., assistant professor at Louisiana State University and has taught graduate courses at Clark-Atlanta University as an adjunct professor.
Dr. Benson earned her bachelor’s degree at Alabama State University, her M.Ed. at Auburn University and her Ph.D. at the University of Kansas. She currently serves as the principal investigator for the Network for Enhancing Teacher Quality (NET-Q), a collection of projects funded by a $13.5 million Teacher Quality Partnership grant from the U.S. Department of Education designed to prepare teachers for the demands of teaching high-need subjects in high-need schools. She also works to sustain the COE’s professional development school network, facilitates international outreach and partnerships and works closely with the Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence.
