Dr. Mona Thornton has worked in higher education for 37 years, including 15 years as a department chair and six years as a director of teacher education. In addition to founding a child development laboratory school at one university and serving as the director for 26 years, Thornton worked at three other university laboratory schools and directed an early development program for a university hospital.

Thornton received a gubernatorial appointment to the Virginia Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs and served for six years; was a Fulbright-Hayes Scholar in Zimbabwe; served as a Consulting Editor for "Young Children," the professional journal for the National Association for the Education of Young Children(NAEYC) and is currently a peer reviewer for the NAEYC/CAEP SPA (specialty professional association) process.

Education

• Doctor of Education, Early Childhood Education; University of Massachusetts-Amherst     
  Dissertation – A Behavioral Assessment of Racial Attitudes 
    in White Preschool Children
• Guidance and Counseling (18 hours); Howard University
• Master of Science, Child Development; Howard University
    Thesis – Language Development in Preschool Children
• Bachelor of Science, Child Development; Howard University   

Areas of Specialty/Interest

• Early Childhood Education
• Child Development
• Child-rearing practices of high achievers
• African-American Males in Early Childhood/Elementary Education

View Dr. Thornton's Vitae