Dr. Deborah M. Haydon graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia (1987) with an Ed.D. in Curriculum and  Instruction with an emphasis in Early Childhood Education, Reading and Language Arts, and Special Education.  She also has a master’s degree in the Education of the Deaf from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Education of the Deaf from Converse College. 

Prior to coming to Converse, Dr. Haydon taught language and literacy courses as well as courses in the education of the deaf and hard of hearing at Eastern Kentucky University for fourteen years.  Prior to college teaching, she has been a classroom teacher, a supervising teacher, an early intervention provider and technical support teacher, and a principal.  In addition to teaching, Dr. Haydon has done private consulting with school districts in the area of literacy learning, particularly in the implementation of writers’ workshops in classrooms. 

Dr. Haydon’s areas of research interest are the writing process, effective reading strategies and their implementation, the characteristics of highly effective teachers, and the influence of “teacher talk” on the language and literacy learning of children and youth.