School Violence Prevention

Firestorm Expert Council Member Carolyn Lunsford Mears, Ph.D., received her doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Denver. As a parent of a Columbine High School student exposed to the shootings, she conducted dissertation research into the impact of the tragedy on schools and families. Her research, Experiences of Columbine Parents: Finding a Way to Tomorrow, was recognized as the Outstanding Qualitative Dissertation of the Year by the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

In response to requests for information about the distinctive research approach she developed for her dissertation, she authored Interviewing or Education and Social Science Research: The Gateway Approach (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), which was selected as a finalist as AERA Book of the Year 2010.

Her anthology, Reclaiming School in the Aftermath of Trauma: Advice Based on Experience, provides real-life stories of traumatic events—school shootings, natural disaster, acts of terrorism, personal abuse and victimization—and offers insight into the effects of trauma on learning. Each chapter describes approaches that educators, administrators, students, and staff found helpful as they returned their school or university to the business of teaching and learning.

From the Publisher:

"September 11. . . Virginia Tech . . . Columbine . . . Hurricane Katrina . . . Traumatic events with long lasting consequences. Lives are upended, safety is threatened, and all are forced to find a way to adapt to a new normal. Educators in schools where students have experienced trauma face difficult challenges, for how are they to promote academic growth and attainment of educational goals in such a situation? Reclaiming School in the Aftermath of Trauma offers wisdom born of experience as well as insights acquired through years of study. Authors contributing to this text share their experiences in the aftermath of tragedy and describe helpful approaches for reclaiming school after trauma interrupts the lives of students, faculty, and school communities."

"Carolyn L. Mears is the author of the award-winning study Experiences of Columbine Parents: Finding a Way to Tomorrow and Interviewing for Education and Social Science Research: The Gateway Approach, holds a research position, serves on the Graduate School of Social Work Trauma Certificate Board, and is dissertation advisor and adjunct faculty at the Morgridge College of Education, University of Denver."

Dr. Mears, who holds a research appointment at the University of Denver's Morgridge College of Education, serves as adjunct faculty and is a member of the Trauma Certification Board of the DU Graduate School of Social Work. She has published numerous articles and presented to a variety of audiences in the United States, Europe, and Australia on such topics as trauma response and recovery after school shootings, safe school environments, leadership in times of crisis, and narrative research.