School of Professional Studies

Education : Education Faculty

Pauline E. Goolkasian, Ed.D.

Coordinator of the Master of Science in Education: Special Education K-12, Adjunct Professor
M.Ed., Loyola University
Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University

Phone and Email:
goolkasianp@wcsu.edu

Biographical Information

Pauline E. Goolkasian is an Adjunct Professor of Education, Coordinator of the Master of Science in Education: Special Education K-12 at Western Connecticut State University and Doctoral Advisor. She entered the teaching profession as an Assistant Professor of Nursing in Maternal- Child Health at the University of Maryland School of Nursing in Baltimore, MD for four and a half years. There she taught junior and senior nursing students in both the classroom and clinical hospital settings. Following nine years as an expatriate in Ontario, Canada, where she volunteered at her children’s elementary school, Pauline returned to Maryland. There she began teaching in a Pre-K through Grade 4 private school and later, a grade 5 – 12 private school as a reading/learning specialist for a total of 13 years. While teaching in these programs, Goolkasian completed a Master’s in Education, Reading Specialist program at Loyola University. Following graduation, she completed post-graduate work in a doctoral program in Special Education at Johns Hopkins University. Upon moving to Connecticut, she taught 1 year as a tutor in the Naugatuck School District in an alternative setting, then accepted a position as a Learning Specialist at The Taft School, where she taught for 4 ½ years. It was during this period that Goolkasian matriculated in and graduated from the first cohort of the Instructional Leadership Doctoral Program at Western Connecticut State University. Soon after, she accepted a position as a Special Education teacher for the Bethel School District where she taught for 9 ½ years as a special educator and later, coordinated special education for the middle and high students in the district. During this period she accepted the Adjunct Professor position at Western Connecticut State University. Just recently Goolkasian co-authored an article on growth mindset, Rhew et al., Cogent Education (2018), The Effects of a Growth Mindset on Self-efficacy and Motivation, doi: 10.1080/2331186X.2018.1492337.