Brenda Walker wants to encourage students to develop innovative programs, like the ones she launched to combat underrepresentation in the school system. Courtesy of USFSP
By Katlynn Mullins
Brenda Walker has seen the other side of the education system — the “failure factories,” their suspended students, their overwhelmed teachers and their dwindling resources.
She went through it as a student first. Then, she became a teacher and saw it from a new perspective. Now, Walker is bringing her experience to USF St. Petersburg.
Before starting at USF St. Petersburg, Walker spent 28 years at USF Tampa working her way from assistant to full professor. She was in the Department of Teaching and Learning, where her focus was on Exceptional Student Education.
Walker is a firm believer in constantly furthering her development. She is always reevaluating her role as a faculty member and is not afraid to make changes when necessary.
She is excited to step out of a teaching role and into a leadership position.
Helping butterflies bloom
When Walker began teaching at the University of Kansas, she noticed a lot of students were African American males, but many teachers were white females.
Upon completing her doctorate in education with a focus on behavior disorders and learning disabilities, Walker moved to Tampa and was excited for the diversity she thought she’d find, but it was the same.
She saw a need for greater representation.
In 1995, Walker launched Project PILOT, Preparing Innovative Leaders of Tomorrow, and received federal funds to recruit African American males to be special education teachers. Altogether, the project drew 30 men to teach.
But Walker still found underrepresentation for teachers in the school system.
So she started another program, Chrysalis. It prepared women of color, Hispanic men and white men to teach in an urban classroom, complete with a lecture series that taught student teachers at the college to be “culturally responsive” in an urban classroom setting.
The idea came from “that protective sort of encasing for a butterfly while in its cocoon,” Walker said.
Building bridges
With consolidation looming, Walker believes her experience in Tampa will help her act as a connector between the two campuses, and she hopes to work more with Sarasota-Manatee.
“What’s really attractive about consolidation is you have all these opportunities for more collaboration, more resources and being able to share resources,” she said.
It’s not only USF she will be connecting, however. There’s a chance for partnership between the Pinellas and Hillsborough school systems as well.
Walker was “deeply disturbed” by the term “failure factories,” the term used by the Tampa Bay Times to describe low-performing schools in the Pinellas County school system. She believes there’s an assumption that every student in these schools is also low-performing.
Walker grew up in Michigan, where the school she attended would be considered a “failure factory” by today’s standards. She always remained high-achieving in a low-achieving setting and wants teachers to realize that students in these schools can do the same.
“I’m a product of those schools, my experience is in working with children in those schools. How can I prepare teachers if I’m not in and out of those schools?” Walker said.
Keeping it real
While in Tampa, Walker visited one middle or high school every week. She worked with young female African American students that were frequently suspended, primarily for fighting.
Teachers said the girls were “disrespecting them” in the way they spoke.
“How do you take that… see it as a strength and use it in a more positive, productive way?” Walker asked.
The girls met in groups with Walker, and she showed them how to turn their so-called weaknesses into strengths.
“They didn’t just learn from me, I learned from them as well. They taught me to keep it real.”
And she intends to bring that to this job as well.
“Whether I’m talking to staff, faculty or students, I’m going to keep it real and keep it down to earth,” she said.
She plans on keeping an “open-door policy” that welcomes students’ ideas for initiatives, like the many she started, that could bring innovation.
Walker promises to keep a level of integrity and honesty, and not to make promises she can’t deliver on.
Even now, if she finds herself falling from her own standards, she hears the girls in her head saying, “OK Dr. Walker, keep it real.”
Meet Dr. Walker at Donuts and Coffee with the Dean on Tuesday, Aug. 27, from 9 to 11 a.m., in Coquina Hall 102B.
