Rate My Professor Marcia Imbeau

Marcia B. Imbeau serves as University Professor of Special Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Arkansas, a position she has held since joining the faculty in 1991. She is also the program coordinator for childhood and elementary education, teaching graduate courses in gifted education, elementary education, classroom management, and curriculum design, as well as undergraduate courses in classroom assessment and children's literature. Imbeau additionally works as a part-time intervention specialist and university liaison at a local elementary school. She supervises interns for the Master of Arts in Teaching program and mentors undergraduate Honors students along with master's and doctoral candidates. With over 40 years dedicated to gifted education, her prior professional experience includes teaching in elementary schools and gifted programs, conducting field research for the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, and coordinating university-based and Saturday programs for advanced learners.

Imbeau earned a B.A. in elementary education from Hendrix College in 1976, an M.Ed. in gifted education from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1982, and a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut's Teaching the Talented Program in 1991. An internationally acclaimed scholar, her expertise lies in curriculum design, differentiated instruction, teacher education, special education, and gifted education. Key publications include co-authoring Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom (2nd ed., 2023; original ASCD, 2010) and The Differentiated Classroom: Reaching and Teaching Every Learner (ASCD, 2014) with Carol Ann Tomlinson, as well as co-editing Parallel Curriculum Units for Grades K-5 (Corwin, 2011). She has held leadership roles such as president of Arkansans for Gifted & Talented Education, board member of the National Association for Gifted Children, and governor at large for the Council for Exceptional Children's Association for the Gifted Division. Her honors include the 2022 AGATE Presidential Award, 2023 Charles and Nadine Baum Faculty Teaching Award, College of Education and Health Professions Outstanding Teaching Award, Honors College Distinguished Faculty Award, Office of Nationally Competitive Awards' Faculty Gold Medal, Faculty Collegiality Award, and 2001 Association of Teacher Educators Distinguished Program in Teacher Education Award.