Teaching
I co-taught 9 courses at the University of Oregon, where I also supported 11 courses and guest-lectured in 17 courses for 5 departments. I have been invited to lead 15 workshops or presentations. During a decade of teaching and administering in middle and high schools, I was licensed in New York and North Carolina and trained in a variety of International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement courses. Across Grades 7-12, I taught 25 courses.
Asterisks (*) indicate full or partial online delivery;  Percentage symbols (%) indicate courses that I designed, but the courses were not offered due to resource constraints.
Awards and Achievements
2017: Excellence in Teaching, University of Oregon’s College of Education (pictured above)
2010: Teacher of the Year Runner-up at Mount Mourne School
2009: National Board Certification in Teaching (English Language Arts) 
2008: Time-Warner (Charlotte, NC) Cable Star Teacher at South Iredell High School
Teaching Interests

International Education Leadership & Policy
Completed 86 graduate credit hours in leadership, policy, and/or international education.
  • Educational Policy Analysis
  • Global Citizenship Education
  • Globalization and Education
  • International Comparative Education
  • Leading for Equity
  • Public Policy
  • Rural Education
  • State & Local Policy
Research Methods
Completed 109 graduate credit hours in research methods.
  • Cultural Adaptation of Evidence-Based Practices
  • Hierarchical Linear Modeling
  • Measurement & Assessment
  • Mixed Methods Research
  • Multiple Regression
  • Program Evaluation
  • Quantitative Analysis
  • Scholarly/Professional Writing
  • Social Science Research Design
  • Survey & Questionnaire Design
  • Systematic Literature Review
Students' Experiences
"Michael was extremely quick to respond, provided helpful information, and always followed up quickly with resources and ideas. Michael went out of his way to take time to meet to answer questions and provide support. This was immensely valuable to my learning experience in [Hierarchical Linear Modeling I] . . . Michael also has a natural way of being able to explain difficult topics and convey complex logic in understandable steps."
-Sondra
2nd-year Ph.D. student

"Engaging and thought-provoking."

"Michael is an amazing instructor that has a natural gift for classroom instruction. His years of public school instruction show in the college environment. He's a rockstar and was invaluable in facilitating discussions and setting the tone/mood for the classroom climate."

"Thanks again for both leading the multi-sided debate on Tuesday and hosting our site visit today. The students really liked your knowledge and sense of humor, especially those that saw you in both settings. I had more than one student ask me about what classes you teach, so they could take them."
-Bob Choquette, Instructor

"Michael is a teacher dedicated to helping students, and differentiating to meet individual needs is a fundamental part of his teaching paradigm.  He not only addresses students' questions but also provides students with background information and theory in order to ensure their understanding of the material. He breaks information into simple steps to increase clarity and utility . . . he provides resources beyond the classroom recognizing that students cannot always learn best in-the-moment and need additional support to refer to outside the classroom."
-4th-year Ph.D. student
Counseling Psychology

"Michael encouraged me to think at a high level for a long period of time while staying engaged and not burning out."
-Educational Administrator

"His energetic and empathic attitude and teaching style made each student feel understood despite our unique needs."
-3rd-year Ph.D. student
Counseling Psychology
                                Graduate Courses 
                                Undergraduate Courses 
                                • 2017: Introduction to Education Policy% in the United States
                                • 2016: Introduction to Public Policy with Mr. Bob Choquette 
                                • 2016: Mixed Methods Research for Aspiring Social Scientists% with Dr. Joanna Smith
                                Invited Presentations (Selected)
                                • 2017: Going global, Winchester Public Schools, Winchester, VA 
                                • 2017: Developing a culture of thinking and understanding for assessment, International Baccalaureate, Burlingame, CA 
                                • 2017: International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme Coordination, United Nations International School, New York, NY
                                • 2016: Getting rural wrong: Unpacking Mislevy to design good studies*, Rural doctoral students webinar series, American Education Research Association-Australian Association for Research in Education.
                                • 2016: Review of the Programme Standards & Practices*, International Baccalaureate, Webinar
                                • 2013 – 2015: Education for international-mindedness, International Baccalaureate, Miami, FL; Detroit, MI; Phoenix, AZ; Keystone, CO
                                • 2015: What makes it research? Detecting patterns through surveys, interviews, and focus groups, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, Doha, Qatar
                                • 2015: Assessing Education City female students’ aspirations, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, Doha
                                • 2014 Making student-learning goals SMARTer, Springfield (OR) Public Schools
                                • 2014: The Learner Profile, International Baccalaureate, Los Angeles, CA
                                                Advising

                                                "Of all the work I completed during my Master’s, I am most proud of the literature review I completed with the help of Michael Thier . . . The most memorable part of working with Michael was his honesty and high expectations . . . When I needed additional guidance and encouragement on my literature review, Michael’s quality of help was greater than I ever expected from a graduate assistant or even from a professor. Despite his own workload and supporting several other students, he always made me feel like my literature review was just as important to him as it was to me . . . Michael was always quick to respond to my emails, he set up additional office hours so I could get the extra help I needed, and he was even willing to discuss my work over the phone in the evenings or on the weekends, since he knew that I was working full time while in graduate school."
                                                -Julia

                                                "[E]fficient, extremely professional, willing to meet me where I was in this process and make recommendations about ways I could proceed."
                                                -5th-year Ph.D. student

                                                "His knowledge and careful eye were critical supports to my success writing my literature review for my dissertation . . . I struggled specifically with formatting data tables in my dissertation and Michael was happy to meet with me individually to support my learning. That was very impressive."

                                                "I really appreciate how thorough and encouraging you've been throughout this process. I learned much more than I expected to, and I've also become a total tyrant when it comes to reviewing sub-grant applications for my job."
                                                -M.S. student

                                                "Michael's written and verbal feedback were incredibly helpful. I have not previously received that level of detailed feedback in any of my classes, and the time and effort that Michael put in to helping me was above and beyond."

                                                "I am a learner who needs to talk through thing . . .  I appreciate someone who is able to explain each detail and allow for questions. Over a span of a few meetings, I asked numerous questions, made considerable changes . . .  and I was continually awed by his ability to shift directions after an idea did not come together . . . I am extremely appreciative of his generosity and versatility."
                                                -3rd-year Ph.D. student
                                                Counseling Psychology

                                                "Michael has served as a mentor to me as I begin to take on more supervised teaching roles myself . . . Michael garners tremendous respect among his peers for providing help in a way that adds value without being judgmental or condescending."
                                                -2nd-year Ph.D. student
                                                Educational Leadership
                                                Share by: