Rate My Professor Lora Lee Smith Canter

Lora Lee Smith Canter is an associate professor in the Special Education Program at East Carolina University's College of Education. She received her PhD from the University of South Carolina in 2006. Prior to her doctorate, she held an MEd and contributed to research on evidence-based practices for young children with autism. She has been a tenured faculty member at ECU since at least 2012, as listed in the university's roster of tenured faculty members under Lora Lee Canter-Smith. Smith Canter served on the planning committee for the College of Education Strategic Plan 2022-2027 and has been engaged in faculty activities such as presentations at the NC-ACTE Fall Forum. Her teaching emphasizes special education coursework, focusing on preparing teachers for inclusive and diverse educational environments, including rural settings.

Dr. Smith Canter's research specializations include special education teacher preparation, universal design for learning (UDL), inclusive education, transition services for emergent bilingual students, the role of school librarians in special education, assistive technology, and early intervention for attachment disorders. Her key publications feature co-authored works such as "Curriculum revision and alignment in an American special education teacher education programme" in Teaching and Teacher Education (2008), which describes program enhancements at ECU to meet national standards; "School Librarians: The Forgotten Partners" in Teaching Exceptional Children (2011), advocating for librarian collaboration in supporting students with disabilities; "Educators Taking the Lead to Transition High School Emergent Bilinguals" in the Journal of Multilingual Education Research (2013); and "Evaluating Pedagogy and Practice of Universal Design for Learning in Public Schools" in Exceptionality Education International (2017), examining UDL application in K-12 settings. Additional contributions include chapters in Assistive Technology and Universal Design for Learning and articles on reactive attachment disorder and evidence-based autism interventions. Her work on ResearchGate has garnered over 350 citations, impacting teacher education and inclusive practices. She maintains professional affiliations reflected in her email, smithcanterl@ecu.edu, as published in academic sources.