Background

Chris Burkett brings to the College of Education 25 years of teacher education experience. Most recently, he served as the Associate Provost for Administrative Affairs at Columbia College.  During his eleven years with Columbia College, Burkett was a tenured Full Professor of Education who also served as the Head for the Division of Education for four years.  As Head, Burkett successfully lead the Division of Education through its NCATE legacy site visit. During his time at the College, Burkett also was instrumental in beginning the graduate program in Higher Education Administration. Burkett spent considerable time at Columbia College recruiting and teaching in their Middle Level Program, where he also mentored teacher candidates during their middle level field experiences. One of Burkett’s other focuses at Columbia College was adding coursework to online platforms, as well as training faculty to use similar platforms.

Previous to his work at Columbia College, Burkett spent two years working in the Department of Education at his undergraduate alma matter, Newberry College. While at Newberry, Burkett’s emphasis was on working with teacher candidates in the field, revamping undergraduate teacher preparation curriculum including the student teaching seminar, as well as implementing a technology course required for all teacher candidates. In 2012, Burkett was inducted into the Newberry College Hall of Master Teachers.

Burkett began his teaching career as a social studies teacher and athletic coach at Dutch Fork High School in Lexington School District Five, were he served for eleven years. While at DFHS, Burkett taught American Government, Economics, and World Cultures.  He coached several sports and sponsored numerous clubs.  Burkett was named Teacher of Year for the 1999/2000 academic year and was named the South Carolina First Year Teacher of the Year in 1994.

Serving his profession outside of academia is very important to Burkett.  He has served in various roles at the South Carolina Department of Education including chair of the Professional Review Committee (PRC) and a NCATE/CAEP state program reviewer. He has also served on the Board of Directors for CERRA (Center for Education Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement), SCASA (South Carolina Association of School Administrators), and SCATE (South Carolina Association of Teacher Educators).   Burkett served as Editor of the Teacher Education Journal of South Carolina from 2008-2016.  For his work with the journal and in teacher preparation, Burkett was conferred the Exemplary Service to the Teaching Profession Award by SCATE in 2016.

 Burkett is passionate about middle level teaching as indicative of his work with middle level teacher candidates while at Columbia College.  Along with this work, Burkett has been a member of the MLTEI (Middle Level Teacher Education Initiative), as well as a former regional representative and past president of SCPoMLE (South Carolina Professors of Middle Level Education).   Burkett currently serves as an application and site reviewer for the South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education’s Schools to Watch Program.

At the University of South Carolina's College of Education, Burkett serves as Executive Director of Gamecock EdQuarters which leads the student services enterprise including advising, clinical experiences, and the Teaching Fellows program. This endeavor allows College of Education teacher candidates a “one stop shop” for all their student services needs. The Gamecock EdQuarters mission is “we are one team recruiting, retaining, and preparing quality education professionals through mentoring, guidance, and support.” Chris is proud to lead this endeavor.

Chris Burkett earned his bachelor’s degree from Newberry College, his master’s degree in education from Columbia College and his Doctor of Education in Higher Education Administration from Nova Southeastern University.