Dr. Sue Teele MS ’69

Dr. Sue Teele MS ’69 has wanted to be a teacher since she was in 4th grade and never wavered from that career goal. 

She met her husband, Steve at the University of Redlands Study Abroad program in Salzburg, Austria. Teele graduated from the University of Redlands in June 1964 and joined Steve in Fairbanks where he was stationed in the Army. She was able to do her student teaching and complete her teaching credential at the University of Alaska in College, Alaska. Faced with the decision to move back to California from Alaska, they found the Rogue Valley and fell in love with it. She was hired to teach English and social studies at Hedrick Junior HS in Medford. “I so enjoyed teaching that age students as they are open to learning,” said Teele. During her first year of teaching, she decided to work on a master’s degree at what was then Southern Oregon College. Steve also worked on his master’s and teaching credential. Because Sue went to SOC primarily in the summer, she had some special experiences. “I was able to work backstage on sets at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as a practicum for one of my courses. It was so fun to be a part of that and then see the actual theatre productions on stage,” she added.

They lived in Medford for two years and then moved to Southern California where they both taught at junior high schools in Rialto, CA. Sue had to complete six semester hours to receive her master’s degree at SOC.  She was allowed to complete two courses at the University of Redlands and was grateful that SOC enabled her to complete her degree. “I have always appreciated the attention and caring that SOC professors and staff provided by letting me finish my coursework at Redlands. They knew I had moved to California and were flexible and accommodating,” said Teele.  

After eleven years of teaching at the junior high level, Dr. Teele worked for four years as an administrator at California State University, San Bernardino and then spent 32 years at the University of California, Riverside as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Director of Education Extension.  She was responsible for 50 different educational certificate and state approved credential programs that served 12,000 educators annually, along with conferences and staff development programs at many school districts. She wrote and administered over $4 million dollars in grants for educators, including a three-year study to reduce the achievement gap in math and science test scores experienced by black and Latino middle school students.

Dr. Teele received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside. Her research was on methods for integrating the theory of multiple intelligences and applications for K-12 classrooms.  She has made over 500 presentations nationally and internationally on the theory, and different approaches for teaching reading and writing.

Dr. Teele has written three books, Rainbows of Intelligence: Exploring How Students Learn; The Multiple Intelligences School: A Place for All Students to Learn and Overcoming Barricades to Learning: A Multiple Intelligences Approach. She also created a pictorial forced choice inventory called the Teele Inventory for Multiple Intelligence (TIMI) which has been used in over 48 countries and throughout the United States to quickly identify how students learn.  Her instrument has been used in master thesis and doctoral dissertations in Turkey, Korea, Pakistan, and the United States. “I am thankful that I had a great influential teacher in first grade, Mrs. Staudle, who inspired me to pursue a career helping students to read, learn and succeed in school. It all started with her,” said Teele. 

Sue was elected to serve for 12 years on the Redlands Unified School District Board of Education. She focused on ways to improve student achievement, financial solvency for the district and constructing new schools for a growing district. 

Dr. Teele received a Fulbright scholarship to teach a modified version of UCR’s Certificate in the Study of Multiple Intelligences program at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. She and her husband lived with a Muslim family and had an amazing cultural experience. She also has a passion for studying pandas and how they learn. She traveled to China five times to work with Hua Mei, a panda she studied over twenty years, at the San Diego Zoo and in China.

Throughout Dr. Teele’s career she has always believed that all students can learn and succeed, but not in the same way and not on the same day. The theory of multiple intelligences has influenced how teachers teach and the different ways students learn.

“I thank the caring faculty and staff at SOC for providing me an opportunity to deepen my knowledge, encourage my love for research and assist me in focusing on how students learn and can achieve when methods and activities in the classroom are provided to them in the more dominant ways they learn.”

Learn more: Dr. Sue Teele