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Byron Booker

Assistant Chair for Graduate Education, Assistant Professor of Education & Director of TESOL

Dr. Booker is the Assistant Chair for Graduate Education, Director of the TESOL program and Assistant Professor of Education at Carson-Newman University. Dr. Booker teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in linguistics and pedagogy relative to the education of multilingual learners in PreK-12 and international contexts including sociolinguistics; culturally responsive teaching; structure and application of American English; leadership, policy, and practice; design principles and methodologies; content integrated instruction; and evaluation of language learning. Additionally, he teaches Foundations of Education and Foundations of School Leadership. His research examines the school leader’s agency and support of multilingual learner education and how legislation, litigation, and school leadership influence the linguistic and cultural identities of multilingual learners across the lifespan and content.

Prior to his appointment at Carson-Newman in 2022, Dr. Booker served for 18 years in public education as a high school administrator and teacher. Dr. Booker was a Fellow with The University of Tennessee’s Center for Educational Leadership. In 2012, he was recognized as the Tennessee Teacher of the Year. In 2021, he was the recipient of Carson-Newman University’s Triumph Award for Education and Counseling. Internationally, he has taught English as a Foreign Language in Japan, China and Russia.

A native of East Tennessee, Byron resides in downtown Morristown, Tennessee with his wife Heidi, stepdaughter Parker, and dog Rockie. Byron’s wife Heidi, a two-time alumnus of C-N, teaches locally with Jefferson County Schools. Parker is an undergraduate student at C-N.