Santa Clara University

Melissa C. Gilbert, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Education

Melissa C. Gilbert grew up in Austin, Texas and earned her bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College before moving to the Bay Area in 1995 to pursue a career in education. She earned a master’s degree in education at Stanford University and then a secondary mathematics teaching credential at Mills College prior to teaching mathematics in the San Lorenzo and Mountain View School Districts. She primarily taught mathematics, both in self-contained and single-subject settings, to diverse groups of students (e.g., English Learners, special-needs) in heterogeneous classrooms.

In 2001 she left the Bay Area to enter the doctoral program at the University of Michigan. While pursuing her doctorate, she taught mathematics methods under the supervision of Deborah Ball as well as educational psychology for prospective secondary mathematics teachers. Her research experiences included data-driven professional development related to cognitively demanding mathematics learning environments (with Ed Silver and Valerie Mills) and to supporting students’ motivation to learn mathematics (with Stuart Karabenick and Marty Maehr).

Her desire to engage all of her students in mathematical thinking inspired her to focus on the relationship between students’ motivation and their mathematical proficiency in her doctoral research, which she completed in 2007. Other recent research examines how teacher beliefs and practices relate to student motivation and achievement in mathematics. At Santa Clara University, Melissa primarily teaches the mathematics methods courses for elementary and secondary credential students.