Matthew Boggan
Dr. Matthew K. Boggan
Professor of Special Education, Special Education and Social Foundations Department Interim Chair
Biography
Dr. Matthew Boggan came to GGC in 2016 as a professor of special education after serving as coordinator of educational leadership programs (graduate) and special education programs (undergraduate) at Mississippi State University-Meridian. He currently serves as interim chair of the Special Education and Social Foundations Department and previously served as interim chair from 2021-22. From 2017-2018, he was the PI/director of a Community Innovations Grant in Gwinnett County designed to better educate GGC students about the abilities of adults with disabilities. As interim chair in 2021-22, he initiated approval to offer the autism endorsement at GGC. He worked closely with the Gwinnett County School District Department of Special Education to provide supportive data validating why the autism endorsement would be beneficial as students who were diagnosed with autism were growing at a substantial rate. In 2022, the autism endorsement was included in the special education program curriculum and also approved by the GAPSC to be offered as a stand-alone endorsement for interested certified teachers.
Boggan has engaged in mentoring research of special education teachers and school principals. In 2016, he completed a study about the Mississippi Statewide Teaching Assessment Rubric (MSTAR) during the pilot year. The MSTAR is a statewide evaluation assessment for schoolteachers in Mississippi. The study including important data was shared with administrators at the State of Mississippi Department of Education for the purpose of better development of the MSTAR. In the same year, he published two other articles with an emphasis on mentoring of special education teachers and best practices for working with aspiring teachers in alternate route programming. During his last seven years at Mississippi State University, he served as PI/project director of a $2.94 million United States Department of Education (USDE) grant called, “Learning and Educating through Alternative Programs (LEAP)” which awarded 151 scholarships to students interested in teaching special or secondary education at both Meridian and Starkville campuses. He worked closely with administrators in 42 high-need school districts while serving as PI in an effort to place highly qualified teachers in their districts. In 2015, he served as a keynote speaker for the TEAM AUTISM GPS Conference at the Pearl River Resort in Choctaw, Mississippi.
Fourteen years prior to beginning a career in higher education, Boggan served as a special education teacher and a K12 school administrator.
Further information about Boggan and the GGC special education program can be found in these articles:
- Channel 11 News: Autism endorsement program offered for teachers, staff at Georgia Gwinnett College
- GGC news release: Georgia Gwinnett College special education major practice teaches in the classroom where he was a student
- GGC News Release: Georgia Gwinnett College launches new online degree program for special education majors
- GGC Instagram: February Feature: Majoring in Education at GGC
Education
- Doctorate – education with educational leadership concentration – Nova Southeastern University
- Master's – special education – Mississippi State University
- Bachelor's – special education – University of Mississippi
- Post-graduate work – University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, Harvard University
Academic Interests
- Special education
- Teacher mentoring
- Educational leadership
Courses Taught
- Behavior Management for Students with Mild Disabilities
- Educational Environments and Planning for Students with Mild Disabilities
- Assessment and Progress Monitoring of Students with Disabilities
- Student Teaching: Professional Practice of Special Education
- Student Teaching: Planning and Assessment of Special Education
- Enhancing the Lives of Adults with Disabilities through Film, Art, and Education
- Introduction to Principles of Applied Behavior Analysis
Funded Grants
- Boggan, M., Lee, C., and Shim, Y. (2017). The GGC Next Stop Project: Enhancing the lives of adults with disabilities through Art, Film, and Education. Funded through the GGC College Community Innovations Project (CIP), GGC Center for Teaching Excellence.
- Boggan, M., Jayroe, T., Burroughs, S., Cornelious, L., Forde, C., Karriem, D., and Pope, M. (2009-2016). Learning and Educating through Alternative Programs (LEAP). U.S. Department of Education, 2.94 million.
Publications
- Boggan, M., Pope, M., Jayroe, T., & Wallin, P. (2016). Mentoring of T2T (Transition to Teaching) Alternate Route Special Education Scholars in High-Needs Schools. National Forum of Special Education Journal, 27(1), p. 1-13.
- Boggan, M., Jayroe, T., & Alexander, B. (2016). Hitting the Target with Transition to Teaching in Mississippi’s Poorest Districts: High Retention Rates through Program Support, Resources, and Strategic Recruiting. Journal of the National Association for Alternative Certification (JNAAC), 11(1), p. 1-9
- Boggan, M. & Wallin, P. (2016). Under the Microscope: Principal Perceptions of the Mississippi Statewide Teachers Assessment Rubric (MSTAR), a Pilot-Year Study. Excellence in Education Journal, 5(2), p. 1-53.
Presentations
- Boggan, M., Smith, P., and Anderson, A. (2021). Addressing the Severe Special Education shortage through paraprofessional to teacher programming: BSED in Special Education program at GGC. Presented to the Georgia Association of Directors of Assessment (GADA) annual meeting on November 9, 2021.
- Boggan, M. (December, 2015). Components for Equity and Excellence in Education: Recent Case Laws in Special Education, Teacher Resilience, and Co-Leadership. KEYNOTE SPEAKER, T.K. Martin Center and TEAM AUTISM GPS State Conference at the Silver Star Casino Convention Center in Philadelphia, MS.
Distinctions
- 2016 Mississippi State University, Service Recognition Award
- 2015 Mississippi State University, Office of Research, Meridian Campus Research Award
- 2013 Mississippi State University, Leadership Academy, Faculty Leadership Award
- 2012 Mississippi State University, College of Education, Adkerson Outstanding Faculty Award
- 2010 Mississippi State University, Meridian Campus Division of Education, Outstanding Service Award
- 2010 Mississippi State University, College of Education, Worth-Bagley Outstanding Faculty Award
- 1993 North Mississippi Regional Center for the Developmentally Disabled, Employee of the Year Finalist