Dr. Dava O'Connor, chair of Lander University's Department of Teacher Education, will travel to England this spring and spend a month at the University of Winchester as a guest lecturer on special education. She will also take part in ongoing research and public presentations.
O'Connor is an associate professor and instructor of special education, and coordinator of
Lander's special education program. She also supervises teacher candidates during the practice
teaching phase of their education.
She is excited about her visit to Winchester, which begins on April 27. "It will give me the
opportunity to collaborate on research and exchange perspectives on American and British approaches
to special education," she said.
In the weeks before O'Connor departs for England, she and Lander will play host to Allison
Goddard, senior lecturer in Primary Education in Winchester's Department of Education, Health and
Social Care. She will arrive late in March and, for a month, will be a guest lecturer in Lander's
College of Education and meet with public school teachers in Greenwood and neighboring
communities.
Goddard will also attend a national special education conference in Nashville, Tenn. While at
Winchester, O'Connor will be a guest at a British special education conference.
For O'Connor, Lander's 2009 Distinguished Professor of the Year, this will be a return visit to
England. She has escorted Lander students, most of them education majors, on study trips abroad to
visit schools and observe classroom techniques in England, Ireland, Wales and Italy.
The O'Connor-Goddard exchange will be the second Lander-Winchester faculty exchange in a year.
Last spring, Dr. Debra Natvig, director and professor of Health Care Management at Lander, spent
two weeks at Winchester. Her exchange partner was Dr. Neil Marriott, dean of Winchester's Business
School, who came to Lander in late March and, in addition to his role as a guest lecturer, he made
speaking appearances in Greenwood.