Robin Wiebers

Robin Wiebers serves as a Lecturer and Faculty Associate Dean in the School of Education at the University of South Dakota, a position she has held since joining the institution in 2011. Her work centers on teacher education, with a focus on field experiences, student teaching, and supporting early-career educators through structured mentoring programs.

Her educational background includes:

• EdD in Secondary Education from the University of South Dakota (2014)
• PreK-12 Administration Degree from the University of South Dakota (2008)
• MA in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of South Dakota (2001)
• BA in French from South Dakota State University (1990)

Dr. Wiebers' research investigates how positive teacher-student relationships drive academic achievement and how the Danielson Model of evaluation can be implemented to enhance teaching effectiveness. She specializes in the critical transition from student teaching to early career teaching, examining contextual factors that support new educators in rural settings through field experiences and mentoring frameworks.

Her scholarly work includes a 2016 publication analyzing South Dakota's teacher residency programs, which explores collaborative clinical training models for rural teacher preparation and identifies key institutional supports for beginning teacher effectiveness.

With extensive experience mentoring pre-service teachers through USD's Professional Development Center since 2000, Dr. Wiebers has developed frameworks for cultivating mentoring mindsets among educator coaches. Her leadership in teacher induction programs has shaped residency models that integrate field experiences with structured evaluation systems to improve teacher retention in rural communities.