Thomas Nagel

Professor Emeritus of Teacher Education and Executive Director of the State of California Association of Teacher Educators (SCATE)

Ph.D., Educational Psychology, Michigan State University
BS(Ed), Secondary Education, University of Idaho

Background

I am a native Californian from St. Helena in the northern part of the state. After obtaining the bachelors degree, I went into the U.S. Navy as a commissioned officer and spent three years on a minesweeper and three more years as a naval ROTC instructor at Oregon State University. After getting out of the Navy I continued to work at Oregon State as the Assistant Director of the Office of Publications (70%) and Instructor of Mathematics (30%). Two years later I obtained a fellowship at Michigan State University to work on a Ph.D. in educational psychology with an emphasis in measurement, evaluation, statistics, and research design. When this was successfully completed I accepted a position as San Diego State University where I have worked in a variety of capacities ever since.

Interests, Activities & Plans

At the present time I continue to have an interest in all aspects of the preparation, continuing development, and retention of elementary teachers in the profession. Recent work has involved development of portfolio systems for assessing teachers, as well as the development of a new masters degree program based on the criteria and standards of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards for the Middle Childhood Generalist certificate.

I am active in both the national Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) and the State of California Association of Teacher Educators (SCATE) where I have served for many years as Executive Director.

Other Interesting Things

Ever since I was a child, I have been interested in trains. Through the years I have played with a lot of different gages, but currently concentrate on LGB trains in G gage using European style models.

Also I'm a classical music enthusiast, maintain a good CD collection, and have season tickets to the San Diego Symphony Orchestra concerts.

Last updated on Tuesday, December 10, 1996.

This is a personal home page and does not represent the opinions of San Diego State University.

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