College of Education

After graduating from the University of North Texas, Dr. R. Jefferson George began his career in education as a media specialist for Vernon Community College.  His main focus was to support instruction in a college classroom through a growing use of the available technology.  As interest in video learning technologies increased, he moved to Austin and created his own video production company.  His company created documentary and historical videos for classroom instruction.  After moving to Houston, he began writing children’s books with Texas author Johara Harper and began his career in public education as an eighth-grade science teacher.  He completed his master’s degree in Counseling at the University of Houston and worked as school counselor, a college counselor and a hospital therapist in Houston ISD, Houston Community College and St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital. Dr. George eventually returned to public education as a school administrator, serving as a principal, interim-principal, assistant principal and director of an alternative program.  He then returned to the University of North Texas to complete his doctorate in Educational Leadership.  During this time, he became a mentor in the Graduate Student Teaching Excellence Program through the Center for Learning Enhancement and Redesign and worked with university teachers and leaders to create a classroom with high levels of student engagement and instructional rigor. Dr. George has returned to his interest in learning technologies and creating an engaging classroom with high levels of instructional rigor.  He is developing a series of online doctoral courses for the doctorate in Educational Leadership.  Dr. George is continuing his research into the development of an engaging instructional platform in a virtual environment and understanding the online experience of the native digital learner. Dr. George is a member of the Texas Counseling Association, the Texas Association of School Administrators and Kappa Delta Pi.

Barbara L. Pazey is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of North Texas, where she joined the faculty in 2017. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Administration with a specialization in Special Education Administration from The University of Texas at Austin, her Master of Arts in Music and Piano from The Ohio State University, her special education certification through the University of South Carolina and Francis Marion University, and a Bachelor of Music degree with a major in piano from Muskingum University. She has experience as a K-12 music teacher and special education teacher, musician and music director for several professional organizations, high school inclusion coordinator, high school principal, and higher education administrator.  

Pazey’s research centers on student voice as well as facilitating the empowerment of voice among individuals with multiple identities and generations,  inclusive education, equity-oriented leadership, and educational policy and reform. She interrogates the effects of educational policies and laws on the school experiences of marginalized student populations and examines how educational policies and reforms inform and impact the development of equity-oriented leaders and leadership preparation programs.

She actively participates in several professional organizations, serving as the representative for the UNT Teacher Education and Administration Department in the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate, Research Committee member for the Council for Administrators of Special Education, and a member of the Action Committee for the Leadership for Social Justice Special Interest Group (SIG) for the American Educational Research Association (AERA).