Mary Trepanier-Street
Former ECEC Director
mtrepani@umd.umich.edu

Mary Trepanier-Street, Professor of Early Childhood Education, Director of Student Teaching, and Director of the Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC) has been a professor and administrator at the University since 1977. As a professor she teaches courses in child development, early childhood curriculum, young children with special needs, and cognition and memory. As an administrator, she directs the ECEC, the campus early childhood and child care center, teacher education and child study and research site. As the Director of Student Teaching, she supervises the field placement and performance of elementary and secondary student teachers and practica students. She also served as Associate Dean of the School from 2007-2010.

Professor Trepanier-Street's research has focused on the areas of gender equity, early childhood curriculum for children with and without disabilities, mentoring of young children at risk by college students, and teacher education. She has conducted several national studies on Jumpstart, a mentoring program that pairs college students and preschool children who are at risk of becoming educationally disadvantaged. Dr. Trepanier-Street has investigated the impact of Jumpstart on the college student's personal and professional development, civic engagement, and beliefs about early childhood practices and young children's development. She has examined children's creative writing to determine children's attitudes and perceptions regarding gender issues and has studied how children’s literature can impact children’s attitudes towards gender issues and acceptance of children with disabilities.

In the area of early childhood curriculum, Professor Trepanier-Street has written several articles on the curriculum approach of using classroom long-term projects based on children's interests to promote cognitive and social development in children. She has also written articles on how using this approach can be a valuable tool for professional collaboration and development of students and experienced teachers. Current research has focused on the inclusion of children with special needs within the general education early childhood classroom and the preparation of early childhood teachers for working in inclusive classrooms. This research is based on the collaboration between Oakwood Health Care’s Center for Exceptional Families and the ECEC