Dr. Rebecca J. Blankenship is an Associate Professor and Director of TESOL programs in the Elementary Education Department at Florida A&M University’s College of Education. Dr. Blankenship has over 16 years of public school teaching experience in both the states of Tennessee and Florida. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of South Florida in Second Language Acquisition and Instructional Technology (SLA/IT) with an emphasis on teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and virtual/simulated professional development for pre-service teacher candidates. She holds a Master of Science in Secondary Education and Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of Tennessee, where she also completed her undergraduate degree with a double major in Pre-Law and Spanish.
She was a member of the Inaugural Provost's Digital Learning Initiative in 2017 and currently serves as a DLI Ambassador. She also serves as an Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) Clinical Educator Fellow. Dr. Blankenship holds two national teaching credentials from the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) in Effective College Instruction (Advanced). She is also the recipient of the FAMU 2022 Senior Level Teaching Innovation Award as well s the United States Distance Learning Association 2021 Impact Award and 2022 Quality Research Award - Gold Level.
Dr. Blankenship’s research interests include the development of virtual training environments for pre-service teacher candidates, the digital agency and literacy development of pre-service teachers and university faculty, and the effects of politics and social media on the teaching profession. She has committed herself through her university teaching, supervision of interns, and faculty service to provide the most salient experiences for pre-service teacher candidates, particularly those representing marginalized populations, to ensure they are well prepared to enter the teaching profession. Her list of accomplishments and publications in addition to her university, state, national, and international service demonstrates her ongoing commitment to the preparation of this nation's future minority teaching corps.