Biography: David Rock
Dean of the School of Education
Dr. David Rock joined Ole Miss as Dean of the School of Education and Professor of Curriculum and Instruction in 2010. He received his B.S. in Mathematics from Vanderbilt University, M.A. in Mathematics Education from the University of Central Florida, and Ed. D. in Curriculum and Instruction (Mathematics Education) from the University of Central Florida. D. Rock has taught mathematics in Florida and Mississippi at the middle and high school levels. He was a professor and coordinator of Secondary Education at The University of Mississippi (1998 – 2004) and the chair of the Department of Education at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Prior to his return to Ole Miss, he was Dean of the College of Education and Health Professions at Columbus State University in Columbus, GA.
Dr. Rock’s area of specialization is mathematics education. He has conducted a multitude of educational workshops and seminars at local, state, and national conferences in which his goal is to increase interest and enthusiasm of the teaching and learning of mathematics. He is the developer of Ole Miss Math Challenge which encourages students to utilize the Internet to solve challenging mathematics problems from across the globe. Participants come from 237 different countries and itreceives millions of hits annually. David has also published numerous articles and co-authored 15 books including Teaching Secondary Mathematics (2006), Scratch Your Brain Where It Itches (2001, 2006, 2008), and Teaching K-6 Mathematics (2003). He is currently the editor for the Palette or Problems in the journal MathematicsTeaching in the Middle School published by the National of Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).
Dr. Rock serves on the Unit Accreditation Board (UAB) for the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). He has been recognized by Ole Miss School of Education as the Outstanding Researcher (2001) and Outstanding Grants and Contract recipient (2000 and 2002). In 2007, Dr. Rock was honored by the University of Central Florida’s College of Education as an Outstanding Alumni for the Decade (1990 – 1999).
Along with his wife Michelle, a former elementary teacher, he has four children: Carly, Kyle, Katelyn, and Cassidy.