Dr. Rene Diamond, senior lecturer of education at Lee University, has earned her Doctor of Education in higher education administration: evaluation and assessment from Liberty University.

"One of the most meaningful parts of completing this journey while at Lee has been being surrounded by amazing and supportive colleagues and students who continually remind me why the work matters," said Dr. Diamond. "Education is ultimately about helping people recognize and develop their potential, and this experience has strengthened my commitment to doing that."

Dr. Diamond's dissertation focused on improving first-time pass rates on the edTPA, a performance-based assessment used in teacher preparation. She studied the experiences of teacher candidates at Lee University to better understand the factors that supported or challenged their success.

Through interviews, focus groups, surveys, and document analysis, Dr. Diamond discovered that one of the strongest findings was the importance of program coherence-how well coursework, clinical experiences, assessment expectations, and faculty support work together to prepare candidates.

"I don't see the dissertation as something that should simply sit on a shelf," said Dr. Diamond. "The research has already influenced the way I think about teacher preparation, assessment, and program design, and I hope it will contribute to improvements that ultimately benefit Lee's teacher candidates and the students they will one day teach."

In addition to teaching at Lee, Dr. Diamond serves on the Cleveland City Schools Board of Education, the Cleveland/Bradley County Public Education Foundation, and the Arts in Education and Business Executive Committee. She also serves as the faculty sponsor for Kappa Psi Nu, a women's social service club at Lee.

She earned her Master of Education in educational leadership from Southeastern Louisiana University and her Bachelor of Science in education from Louisiana State University.