Dr. Beth Tuckwiller

Dr. Beth Tuckwiller, faculty affiliate of the Forum on Democracy & Education, is an Associate Professor of Special Education and Disability Studies (SEDS) at the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at the George Washington University. She serves as the SEDS Department Chair. 

She earned her Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of Virginia and holds a B.S. in Psychology and an M.S. in Counseling Psychology. Dr. Tuckwiller was trained as a mental health counselor and specialized in child and adolescent mental health in her clinical work. After transitioning to the field of special education, she taught high school students identified with emotional, behavioral, and learning differences and co-coordinated school-based programming designed to enhance student mental health, wellbeing, and academic outcomes.

Her interdisciplinary research program investigates schools as complex systems in which individual, interpersonal, and sociopolitical factors interact to affect experiences of individual and collective wellbeing and holistic educational outcomes. She grounds her research in participatory and advanced mixed methods designs and engages in community-based, practice-focused participatory projects focused on increasing access and inclusion. 

Dr. Tuckwiller is a faculty affiliate at the GW Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute and a Center Associate at GW's Center for Health and Health Care in Schools at the Milken Institute School of Public Health. She also serves as an advisory board member for the GW Center for Applied Developmental Science and Neuroeducation.