Rebekah McCloud, Ed.D

Dr. Rebekah McCloud is currently the Executive Director TRIO Programs at the University of Central Florida. Dr. McCloud has been active in the TRIO Community for a number of years. She has written over $20 million in TRIO grants including the first TRIO grant at UCF (Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program) and seven other TRIO grants: PRIME STEM and Project BEST (Student Support Services); Project PACE and Project REACH (Talent Search); and Project ACE, Project EDGE and Project RISE (Upward Bound). Additionally, she was the Director of the UCF’s first Upward Bound program and is the past president of the Florida Association of Educational Opportunity Program Personnel (FAEOPP), the Florida TRIO organization. Dr. McCloud is passionate about student access and retention efforts. She created the Research and Mentoring Program (RAMP) and served as the Director of Minority Programs in Education (College of Education and Human Performance). A former school principal and classroom teacher, Dr. McCloud came to UCF (College of Education) in 1995 to work with pre-service and veteran teachers. She was also the Associate Director of the Office of Diversity Initiatives. Dr. McCloud is a published author and the former editor of The Florida English Journal. She has been on the editorial review board for three national peer-reviewed journals: Opportunity Matters: The Journal of Access and Opportunity in Education, the Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, and the Journal of College of Academic Support Programs. She occasionally reviews articles for AERA Open (the journal for the American Educational Research Association). Dr. McCloud is a certified life coach and has presented over 100 workshops at local, state, regional and national conferences.