Jane Ainel Smith Stallings (January 10, 1929 – January 31, 2016) was an American educational researcher and academic. She was the 1994–95 president of the
American Educational Research Association
The American Educational Research Association (AERA, pronounced "A-E-R-A") is a professional organization representing education researchers in the United States and around the world. AERA's mission is to advance knowledge about education and p ...
(AERA) and the first female to become a dean at
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
.
Early life and career
Jane Smith was born in Indiana; her parents were Indiana natives Howard and Ruth Pinkerton Smith. After earning an undergraduate degree at
Ball State University, she worked as a teacher in
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
. She met Harold Stallings in Long Beach. The couple married and then had four children before they were divorced. She later married David Markham; she was predeceased by him in 2011. After her teaching stint in Long Beach, she earned an M.S. and a Ph.D. at
Stanford University.
[
After working at the ]Stanford Research Institute
SRI International (SRI) is an American nonprofit scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The trustees of Stanford University established SRI in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic ...
, she held faculty positions at Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
and the University of Houston
The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...
. In 1990, she became the dean of the Texas A&M University College of Education. She had been planning to retire before she was presented with the opportunity at Texas A&M. The appointment made her the first female dean at the university. There she established the Dean's Roundtable, which featured leaders in education, and she started the Learning to Teach in Inner City Schools program.
Stallings was the 1994–95 AERA president. She was known as an authority on the measurement of teaching time in the classroom and had a special interest in teaching strategies directed toward inner-city youth.
Later life
After retiring in 1999, Stallings pursued an interest in fiction writing. In 2011, she published a novel, ''Bridge to Survival''. On January 13, 2016, Stallings died unexpectedly due to an aneurysm
An aneurysm is an outward bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also be a nidus ( ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stallings, Jane
1929 births
2016 deaths
Texas A&M University faculty
University of Houston faculty
Vanderbilt University faculty
Ball State University alumni
Stanford University alumni