About Dr. Robert Simmons III

Dr. Robert W. Simmons III, assistant professor at Loyola University, Maryland.

Robert W. Simmons III is an assistant professor in the School of Education at Loyola University Maryland. A former middle school math and science teacher, and elementary teacher, in the Detroit Public Schools, Robert was nominated twice as the Walt Disney National Teacher of the Year and once for the Whitney and Elizabeth MacMillan Foundation Outstanding Educator Award. Robert has been a fellow with the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation and participated in the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund. Additionally, Robert’s work related to urban education and service learning has been recognized through the Emerging Scholars in Service-Learning program at Brandeis University and the University of Minnesota.

Robert is a contributing author to the highly acclaimed book, White Teachers/Diverse Classrooms: A Guide to Building Inclusive Schools, Promoting High Expectations, and Eliminating Racism. Additional publications have been included in Educational Leadership, Urban Education, Journal of Urban, Learning, Teaching, and Research, and the Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher Education Journal. His other work includes chapters in The State of the African American Male in Michigan: A Courageous Conversation, Yes We Can!: Improving Urban Schools Through Innovative Educational Reform, and Manly Deeds and Scholarship: Strategies for the Academic and Social Development of African American Males. Along with Julie Landsman, Robert is currently co-editing a book titled, Going Deeper: Having Honest Conversations About Race. In addition to his numerous publications, Robert is a co-principal investigator with the Mind Project (mind.ilstu.edu). Funded through a $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, Robert and the Mind Project researchers have developed virtual science labs aimed at enhancing science instruction in secondary classrooms, as well as increasing students’ interest in STEM careers.

Robert’s current research efforts focus on the educational experiences of urban African American males at Jesuit high schools, the role of hip hop in urban classrooms, the experiences of African American male teachers in urban schools, and science teaching in urban high schools. Additional collaborative research projects have focused on Samoan teachers in American Samoa, a mixed method study of the experiences of urban teachers in cities hardest hit by the current recession, and understanding the role of virtual science labs in urban high schools.