Margaret Mohr-Schroeder, leader of the MTEP Kentucky team since the start of MTEP 2.0 in 2022, has been appointed inaugural vice provost for academic affairs at Kansas State University (K-State). She will begin her position as the head of K-State’s new Office of Academic Affairs and Innovation on Oct. 1.
Mohr-Schroeder, a native Kansan, told K-State Today that she looks forward to working with students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community partners to shape education at K-State to rise to the ever-changing needs of Kansas and the world. At K-State, she will be responsible for ensuring high quality of academics, including for-credit and noncredit programs in all modalities, and supporting the infusion and integration of innovative academic practices across the university.
"I am deeply honored to be selected as the inaugural vice provost for academic affairs and innovation at Kansas State University," Mohr-Schroeder said in her interview with K-State Today. "What drew me to this position is K-State's visionary commitment to becoming a next-generation land-grant institution, particularly through its emphasis on interdisciplinary programs and opportunities, and expanding access and partnerships across Kansas' 105 counties."
Mohr-Schroeder is currently a professor of STEM education and senior associate dean of academic programs and partnerships in the University of Kentucky’s College of Education. In addition to leading the MTEP Kentucky team, she has been the Central Alabama MTEP team’s change coach since the start of MTEP 2.0. Mohr-Schroeder is also a member of the MTEP 2.0 Outreach and Research Hubs.
At the University of Kentucky, Mohr-Schroeder led the creation of several programs, including a transdisciplinary STEM education double-major program, a first-year experience for freshmen education majors, and numerous college partnerships with local schools, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. As a (co-)principal investigator in STEM and teacher preparation research, she contributed to bringing in almost $20 million in external funding to the university.
Mohr-Schroeder’s contributions to the MTEP 2.0 Outreach Hub Policy subgroup include leading the charge to create the MTEP policy database and launching and curating the MTEP Transformers newsletter feature "Advocacy Corner." She is also a supporting member of the Outreach Hub Administrator and Public Awareness subgroups.
Mohr-Schroeder is an author of the MTEP monograph, having contributed to chapters on secondary mathematics teacher preparation program transformation and preparation of secondary mathematics teacher candidates. She is also a co-author of a 2017 article, published by the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, on predicting student achievement using measures of teachers’ knowledge for teaching geometry and a 2022 Education Sciences article on teaching mathematics with technology.
Originally from Wichita, Kansas, Mohr-Schroeder holds a bachelor’s degree in education in mathematics and a master’s degree in mathematics, both from Pittsburgh State University. She briefly worked as a middle school math teacher before going on to earn her doctorate in curriculum and instruction, with emphases in mathematics and science education, from Texas A&M University.
The MTEP 2.0 leadership team congratulates Dr. Mohr-Schroeder on her new position and sends her best wishes for this new chapter!