Dr. Mary Louise Hemmeter

Professor and Author
Vanderbilt University

Dr. Mary Louise Hemmeter is a professor and Nicholas Hobbs Chair in the Department of Special Education in the Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. Her research focuses on effective instruction, supporting social-emotional development, addressing challenging behavior, and coaching teachers. Her current projects are designed to examine the effectiveness of the Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Young Children in infant, toddler, Pre-K, and kindergarten settings. Dr. Hemmeter is a co-author on the Connect4Learning Pre-K Curriculum and has been a co-editor of the Journal of Early Intervention.

As both a Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator, she has collaborated on numerous projects that have been funded by the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services. Through her work with the National Center on the Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning and other funded research projects, she was involved in developing the Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Young Children. Another model, Practice Based Coaching, was designed to coach teachers to implement effective practices. 

Dr. Hemmeter has served as President of the Division for Early Childhood at the Council for Exceptional Children and she has been recognized for her work by the Council. She received both the Mary McEvoy Service to the Field Award and the Merle B. Karnes Service to the Division Award from the Division for Early Childhood.

Dr. Hemmeter attended Auburn University for her undergraduate studies, receiving a B.S. in Early Childhood/Special Education. She went on to receive her MEd in Early Childhood/Special Education from Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, and then her Ph.D. in Education and Human Development/Special Education, also from Vanderbilt.