A former high school social studies teacher, Dr. White was Associate Professor (until June 2016) and former program coordinator for PK-12 History/Social Studies in the School of Education of Boston University. For 22 years at BU, he taught both elementary and secondary social studies methods courses, as well as Models of Teaching and Project Citizen. As part of his methods work, Dr. White supervised future elementary and secondary teachers in the Boston area and in Study Abroad placements in Sydney and Quito.
He came to Boston University after nine years at George Mason University in Virginia (1985-1994), where he was Director of the Center for Interactive Educational Technology and coordinator of graduate instructional technology programs.
Dr. White’s publications span instructional technology and social studies education, ranging from a general text in educational computing to a K-12 curriculum framework for the award-winning Teaching With Historic Places project (https://www.nps.gov/subjects/teachingwithhistoricplaces/index.htm). The framework was developed for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Park Service and has been the basis for teacher workshops that Dr. White has offered nationwide. He was also co-author of Houghton Mifflin’s Social Studies elementary textbook series (2008). Dr. White is past president of the Social Science Education Consortium, an organization of senior scholars dedicated to strengthening linkages between university historians/social scientists and educators. He has presented papers at national and international conferences, most recently at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany.
Dr. White’s main interest is civic education and democratic engagement within the U.S. and globally, and he was appointed by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to the state’s Special Commission on Civic Engagement and Learning as its civic education scholar. Dr. White directed “Projects in Civic Engagement” programs that aimed to promote civic education in the United States and overseas (www.facebook.com/civicengage). He was the coordinator of the Civitas@Eurasia partnership at Boston University, a collaboration with Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, and Mongolia to revamp civics curriculum and teacher education to support the development of civil society and democratic institutions. He has also shared his experience and expertise with civics teachers and education ministry officials in South Africa, Northern Ireland, and Indonesia. Dr. White has hosted a number of visiting scholars and researchers in social studies and civic education from universities throughout China and South Korea.
Dr. White is currently Executive Director of the Social Science Education Consortium and an independent education scholar living in the Boston area. He teaches professional development online courses on civic education methods for Kansas State University.