Debora L. Scheffel, PhD

Debora Scheffel was appointed July, 2008 as the Dean of the School of Education at Jones International University. For the past eight years she has held a tenured professorship at the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colorado and for the past three years has served as the Director of Literacy Grants and Initiatives and Colorado Reading First at the Colorado Department of Education. She currently serves as a special assistant to the Commissioner of Education in Colorado for literacy.

She has an extensive background in academic assessment, serving as the Director of Academic Assessment at two universities, and has been a visiting scholar at the United States Air Force Academy in assessment. Her academic background is in communication disorders and special education with research interests in cognitive psychology and learning theory as related to implications for learning environments, brain-behavior relationships and learning, and reading and oral language development and disabilities in children.

Debora has worked in six states in a variety of post-secondary educational contexts, and is a published author in literacy, special education, and higher education assessment. Her professional affiliations include the International Neuropsychological Society and the Council for Exceptional Children. She is currently a member of the Colorado Literacy Council and serves on the editorial boards of Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, Colorado Reading Council Journal (CRCJ) and Journal of the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition.