51

Skip navigation
Thomas O'Brien

Professor Thomas O'Brien

Professor

Bio

Thomas V. O'Brien is Professor of Educational Studies in the School of Education, Interim Director of the Center for Black Studies, and a Faculty Fellow in Honors College. and affiliate faculty at the Center for Black Studies and Honors College. O'Brien studies the history of race and schooling in the U.S. He earned a B.A. at Brown and Ph.D. at Emory University. He has taught middle-school and high-school science and math and held tenured positions at Millersville University and The Ohio State University.

  • PHD - Emory University (1992)
  • MED - Emory University (1988)
  • BA - Brown University (1981)

History of American Education; History of Higher Education in America; Critical Issues in American Education, Comparative Education Policy Analysis and Research on a Global Level; P-12 School Law; Historical Research Methods; Public Education in the U.S.; Epistemology in Social Science Research

  • Promoting “the Kingdom of God”: Louisiana College and G. Earl Guinn At Dawn of Culture Wars, 1951-1957 , Louisiana History Journal, 2019
  • “Pork Choppers, Presidents, and Perverts: The Response of two University Presidents to Attacks on the Privacy and Academic Freedom of Professors by the Florida Legislative Investigative Committee, 1956 to 1965).” , American Educational History Journal, 2016
  • The Paradigm Shift in Education in Big Data Era: Exploring the Intersection of Historical Assessment Frameworks and AI-Powered Assessment Methods in Education, Journal of Education and Training Studies, ,
  • Perils of Accommodation: The Case of Joseph W. Holley, AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNAL, 2007,
  • Not Quite ‘Déjà Vu All Over Again’: No Child Left Behind Meets Effective Schools Research. , The Educational Forum, 2012,
  • What Happened to the Promise of Brown? An Organizational Explanation and an Outline for Change, TEACHERS COLLEGE RECORD, 2007
  • Bridging Theory and Practice in Teacher Education, 2007
  • The Dog that didn't Bark: Aaron v. Cook and the NAACP Strategy in Georgia before Brown, Journal of Negro History, 1999,
  • Old Dogs Can Learn to Like New Tricks: One Instructor’s Change in Attitude to Online Instruction from 2009-2017, 5th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'19), Peer-reviewed Proceedings 5th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd’19), 2019,
  • Democracy, Privilege, and Schooling in Georgia: Testing the effects of politics and markets. , JAI Series in Advances in Educational Policy, 1998
  • American Association of University Professors
  • Society for the Study of Curriculum History
  • 51 History of Education Society
  • The Organization of Educational Historians
  • English (Native or Bilingual)
  • Italian (Elementary)
  • Spanish (Elementary)
  • French (Elementary)

Contact Me

Owings-McQuagge Hall (OMH) 122E

Hattiesburg

Email
Thomas.OBrienFREEMississippi

Phone
601.266.6093

Areas of Expertise

Education; History of American Education; Social Foundations of Education; Education Policy and Politics; Race, Class, and Education; School Law; Higher Education