MELISSA FOGARTY

Melissa Fogarty is a Clinical Associate Professor and Associate Department Head in the Department of Educational Psychology at Texas A&M University's College of Education and Human Development. Her work focuses on special education, reading comprehension, and evidence-based interventions. She coordinates the undergraduate special education program and leads research on literacy interventions for students with disabilities.

Her research interests include technology-mediated learning, reading comprehension strategies for at-risk students, and teacher preparation frameworks. She has co-led multiple federally funded projects, including the Project Connect-IT series focused on developing text-integration interventions for middle schoolers and a Texas Higher Education initiative supporting Spanish-speaking families of children with autism.

Dr. Fogarty's recent publications analyze phonemic awareness instruction, technology-delivered interventions, and peer dynamics for students with disabilities. She teaches courses such as SPED302 Instructional Design for Students with Disabilities and SPED621 Overview of Exceptional Students. Her grants include roles as Co-PI on US Department of Education IES-funded projects since 2010.

Notable contributions include developing frameworks for multitiered teacher preparation systems and exploring the efficacy of interventions targeting vocabulary and comprehension deficits. She emphasizes applying research findings to real-world educational challenges, particularly during disruptions like the pandemic.