Dr. Bill Sterrett serves as Department Chair and Professor of Educational Leadership at Baylor University, where he holds the Fred & Edith Hale Endowed Chair for School Leadership. Before joining Baylor in 2022, Sterrett served as Associate Dean and Professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Prior to Sterrett’s 12-year tenure at UNCW, he was a principal and teacher in Charlottesville, Virginia. Sterrett earned his undergraduate degree at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, where he studied middle grades education and was a member of the men's basketball team. He then pursued his M.Ed. and Ph.D. at the University of Virginia, studying educational administration. He received the Milken National Educator award as a Title I school principal in Charlottesville, and has since helped present the award to educators in Virginia, North Carolina, and in schools throughout Texas.
At Baylor, Sterrett has engaged in a number of funded efforts. He led the U.S. State Department-sponsored IDEA-SPORT grant that included Baylor faculty, staff, and students, along with UNCW and several universities in Pakistan to support women's leadership through sports through on-the-ground sports and leadership workshops in Pakistan and through virtual professional learning communities. Sterrett also serves in the Baylor Center for School Leadership to support efforts such as the Thriving Learning Communities grant work in Mississippi. He is an Affiliated Faculty member of the Point-of-Needs Innovations Center where he collaborates with Baylor faculty across engineering and education departments to support undergraduate and graduate researchers in externally funded research and outreach projects. Dr. Sterrett has co-authored publications with numerous students at the undergraduate, Master’s, and doctoral levels on topics including principal instructional leadership, sustainability leadership, PDS partnership efforts, student-athlete perspectives, and school improvement.
As principal, Sterrett fostered a community of collaboration, motivation and high expectations at Woodbrook Elementary School, a highly diverse Distinguished Title I School in Charlottesville, Virginia. Sterrett was noted for sharing with colleagues a deep knowledge of instructional best practices and implemented innovative strategies to enrich learning for all students. An advocate of assessment and effective data analysis, Sterrett worked with the district math specialist to design and implement math exit slips, which students completed several times a week to assess their level of learning. He and his staff used the data from these slips to determine next steps. Dr. Sterrett also introduced the Second Step character education program, visiting every homeroom with the guidance counselor to teach character lessons on a regular basis. While having an increasing population of students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch, Sterrett's strategies helped drive significant increases in test scores at Woodbrook, with students consistently achieving 90+ percent pass rates on the Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments. Sterrett served on division committees including the Calendar Committee, the Math Specialist Committee and Leadership Preparation and Transition. Dr. Sterrett was published in numerous educational journals and presented with his colleagues at educational conferences. His innovative leadership helped Woodbrook earn a 2008 Governor's Board of Education VIP Excellence Award for meeting state and federal accountability benchmarks for two consecutive years. Sterrett earned his B.S. from Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, and his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.
2005 Ph.D. in Education Administration at University of Virginia
1999 Asbury College, B.S.
