Biography
Kim K. Winter is Dean and Professor in the College of Education and Allied Professions
and superintendent of The Catamount School (UNC-System lab school) at Western Carolina
University. She is an experienced higher education administrator skilled in accreditation,
assessment, curriculum development, enrollment and personnel management, budget and
finance, as well as partnership development and advocacy. During Winter’s tenure as
dean, college scholarship dollars have more than doubled and in 2023, secured an endowment
of 2.5 million for a distinguished professorship in early literacy. Dr. Winter’s teaching
and research expertise includes the induction and retention of teachers, performance-based
assessment, middle level curriculum and instruction, language arts and disciplinary
literacy methods, young adolescent development, English Learner methods, young adult
literature, and higher education organization and administration. She has remained
an active scholar since becoming a full-time administrator and has secured external
grant funding in excess of 3.7 million. Volunteer service in North Carolina includes
the State Board of Education Literacy Task Force, Teaching Fellows Commission, Early
Learning & Literacy Impact Coalition, New Teacher Support Program Advisory Council,
Task Force on Trauma-informed Practices (part of the NC Center for Resilience and
Learning, a center housed at the Public School Forum of NC), and as co-chair of the
UNC System Education Preparation Advisory Group. Winter has also served on many committees
within the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE), and as an accreditation
reviewer for the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) and
the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).
Dr. Winter holds a baccalaureate degree in Applied Learning and Development from The
University of Texas at Austin and a master’s and doctorate in Curriculum with a specialization
in English from Indiana State University. She has taught in public schools at the
elementary and middle school levels in both Texas and Indiana.
Teaching Interests
Middle Grades Philosophy & School Organization<br>Young Adolescent Development<br>Curriculum
and Instruction<br>Differentiated Instruction<br>English Language Learners<br>Language
Arts and Writing Methods (grades 4-8)<br>Content Area Literacy (middle and secondary)
Research Interests
Performance-Based Assessment in Teacher Education<br><br>Preservice teacher development<br><br>Induction
and retention of teachers<br><br>Digital video analysis of and reflection on teaching
among preservice teachers
