Melinda C. Bier, Ph.D.
melinda c. bier, ph.d.
Melinda C. Bier is Co-Director for the Center for Character and Citizenship (CCC), at UMSL where she has led program evaluation, the design and adoption of K-12 educational innovations, particularly in underserved schools and communities, and professional development for teachers and school leaders.
Mindy is currently leading research into whether a specific set of servant leadership virtues can be measurably increased in educational leaders. The project is called Cultivating Virtues for Leadership (CViL). Her previous work involved the development of a series of cross-disciplinary service-learning projects called Youth Empowerment in Action (YEA!). These projects all involve students in assessing the impact of interventions that combined media literacy and production, Youth-led Participatory Action Research (YPAR) and social marketing, and policy analysis and advocacy to achieve student and community outcomes including health, character, and academic achievement. Bier and Marvin W. Berkowitz are also co-authors of an on-going series of scientific literature reviews supporting the development of character in school age students.
Dr. Bier presenting at Character.org Forum 2019
Prior to coming to UMSL Bier served as Program Officer with the James S. McDonnell Foundation (JSMF) where she administered the Cognitive Science in the Classroom Program and reviewed scientific research proposals. Before joining JSMF, Bier was responsible for the daily operations of the Florida Department of Education’s regional professional development and resource center – the Space Coast Center for Excellence.
Bier’s research investigating the ways in which low-income families could make use of digital technology to strengthen the school-home-community connection won an NSF Award and was highlighted in scholarly publications including Nature and The Scientist as well as in popular media such as USA Today, NPR and local newspapers. She was an advisor to the American Association for the Advancement of Science and NSF on issues related to ethics in cyberspace and the use of human subjects in educational research. Bier’s work has included consulting to Mathematica Policy Research on the Social and Character Development cross-site evaluation funded by IES; consulting to Caliber Associates on USDE Character Education and Civic Engagement Center; and directing the USDE funded Character Education Partnership’s National Character Education Clearinghouse.