Dr. Dorinda Gallant
Associate Professor of Quantitative Research, Evaluation and Measurement
The Ohio State University
Q&A
Who have you admired in your path into the sciences and what qualities did you see in them that you embody in your own path?
Broadly, I have admired the women mathematics and science teachers that I encountered in middle and high school. Seeing and being in the classes of women mathematics and science teachers as a middle and high school student was impactful. Specifically, I consider myself fortunate as a middle school student to have had an African American woman pre-algebra teacher. My experience in her class laid the foundation for my later success in higher-level mathematics courses. In high school, it was no secret that I wanted to be a teacher. In my senior year of high school, it was my trigonometry / pre-calculus teacher, a non-African American woman, who encouraged me to consider majoring in mathematics in college. The presence of women in mathematics and science does matter. Both the middle school and high school mathematics teachers were tough but fair. They set learning and behavior expectations and held us accountable. They were also available. These are some of the qualities that I saw in them that I embodied in my career path.
Can you tell us about a memorable moment in your career—a time when you knew you were working in your purpose?
There are several memorable moments in my career in which I knew that I was working in my purpose. I will share one moment from secondary education and one from higher education. My career started as a middle and high school mathematics teacher in South Carolina. The school in which I taught was socioeconomically diverse and disparities were pronounced. Memories of students—both current at the time and high school graduates—sharing with me the positive impact that I made in their lives affirmed that I was working in my purpose. In higher education, shortly after assuming the role as the director of The Ohio LSAMP Alliance, I attended the Ohio State LSAMP spring welcome back event that was held in Hale Hall. When I entered the Martin Luther King Jr. Lounge, I saw numerous racial/ethnic minority students historically underrepresented in STEM at various stages in their college journey. My engagement with the students has provided additional affirmation that I am working in my purpose.
What is one book or film you would recommend to a young person interested in a career in sciences?
The film I would recommend to a young African American person interested in a career in science is “Hidden Figures.” The representation of African American women in STEM and the messaging about perseverance despite racism, sexism, and other isms are powerful. Additionally, the film shows the intersectionality of the multiple identities of the main women characters and that those multiple identities are assets.
Career Highlights
- Served as the director of The Ohio LSAMP Alliance, an alliance of 10 higher education institutions in the state of Ohio that aims to increase the number of racial/ethnic minority students historically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
- Received the 2021 Distinguished Diversity Enhancement Award (Ohio Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation), on behalf ofThe Ohio LSAMP, awarded to Ohio State University faculty, staff, students, student organizations, and alumni for their diversity efforts.
- Provided consultation services to the Higher Education Partnership (HEP) – Dominican Republic (DR) Activity team on the design and implementation of a evaluation tool to assess DR higher education institution (HEI) partners’ capacity to recruit, retain, and graduate youth from high-risk environments, financed by the United States Agency for International Development.
- Collaborating with a team of Ohio State faculty and staff to evaluate the effectiveness of implementation of improvement plans at the participating DR HEIs to ensure that youth in the DR from high-risk environments have access to higher education, supports and resources to persist in higher education, and graduate from HEIs.
Biography
Dorinda Gallant, Ph.D., is an associate professor of Quantitative Research, Evaluation and Measurement in the Department of Educational Studies, College of Education and Human Ecology, and the director and co-PI of The Ohio LSAMP Alliance. She is a graduate of Winthrop University with an undergraduate degree in mathematics. Dr. Gallant earned a M.Ed. in secondary education mathematics from Coastal Carolina University and a Ph.D. in educational psychology and research (research track) from the University of South Carolina. Her career as an educator began over 30 years ago as a middle and high school mathematics teacher in South Carolina. Over the past 17 years, Dr. Gallant has been mentoring and preparing the next generation of educational statisticians and assessment and evaluation experts. Her background and experience in applied measurement positioned her to serve on the GRE® Technical Advisory Committee and currently, she serves on the South Carolina Technical Advisory Committee, which provides technical support and guidance to the South Carolina Department of Education on its testing programs. Dr. Gallant has served as a member of the National Council on Measurement in Education Diversity Issues and Testing Committee and as chairperson of the American Educational Research Association Committee on Scholars of Color in Education. Fundamental to her research interests in assessment and program evaluation in K-12 and higher education is applied measurement in education.