Dr. Gena Southall

Faculty Mentor

Hailing from Farmville, Virginia, Gena Southall received both her B.A. in English, Secondary Education, and her M.A. in English Education and Writing from Longwood University. She earned her Ed. D. in Curriculum and Instruction, English Education from the University of Virginia.

Gena began her career as a high school English teacher in Central Virginia. She transitioned to higher education and spent 16 years at Longwood University. At Longwood, Gena taught K-12 English/language arts methods courses and eventually served as the Director of the Liberal Studies program and as Executive Director of Teacher Preparation for all teacher licensure programs. Gena spent seven summers as Chair of the English Academy for JMU’s Content Teaching Academy (CTA) and one year as CTA’s Interim Director.

Gena has been published in the Virginia English Journal, Literacy Research and Instruction, and The Journal of Reading Education. She has presented at NCTE, SITE, ALER, NRC, NFEC, and VATE. Gena received Longwood’s Waverly Cole Award for Undergraduate Mentorship, Maude Glenn Raiford Teaching Award, and a CHI Commendation, Longwood’s highest student body-initiated honor given to faculty or staff.

Gena and her husband Scott live in the beautiful Outer Banks, North Carolina. They enjoy watching sound side sunsets and listening to yacht rock.

“An educator’s premiere responsibility is to know their students, as a community and as individuals. It is through this intimate knowledge that curriculum can be designed and implemented to serve students “where they are.” Students experience a myriad of educators who tout many years’ experience in the classroom. Unfortunately, in many cases, that number is more accurately expressed as one year of experience recycled over and again. Each group of students should be taught differently, whether in the in-person or online learning space. I am thrilled to work with Magellan’s educational leaders, who believe faculty engagement, energy, and support are the cornerstone of student success and growth.“