Dr. Angela Hilton-Prillhart, left, answers questions from Bettina Chirica and Ryann Williams, white shirt, while going over a case study in class.Kelly Hudler, left, and Kelly Aubrey ask Dr. Angela Hilton-Prillhart , right, questions on a case study for their Psychology and education or exceptional children.
By: Syd Bickers
Dr. Angela Hilton-Prillhart joins Milligan’s faculty as the new assistant professor of education. Having worked in metropolitan schools and a rural community, she is well versed in childhood education with her areas of expertise being in child development, early reading and special education.
She grew up in Kingsport and attended East Tennessee State University as an undergrad. After receiving a master’s degree in special education in 1998, she left Tennessee and pursued a career in education.
In Falls Church, VA, just seven miles outside of Washington D.C., Hilton-Prillhart worked at a diverse elementary school.
“I taught students from 25 different countries and of 14 different languages,” Dr. Hilton-Prillhart said. Using an interpreter was common practice when meeting with parents.
“I enjoyed everything but the commute,” she said[sd1] .
The bustle of D.C. swept her off to Hagerstown, MD, where she worked with middle school teachers of students affected by “pretty severe emotional disabilities,” she said. She helped them arrange lesson plans – “effective interventions” – specially fit to the students’ needs.
Equipping teachers to better the students’ lives is what inspired Dr. Hilton-Prillhart to get her doctorate, but that dream would lie dormant for a little over a year while she and her husband started a family.
In Georgia, Angela and her husband Chris are now raising three sons. Though she no longer taught, life was not a simple bowl of Georgia peaches. She worked as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for foster children.
Eventually, she made her way back to Tennessee and enrolled at the University of Tennessee. While balancing her duties as a full-time mother and student, she interned at Cherokee Health Systems.
“Cherokee Health Systems is a developmental program for families in rural Cocke County,” she said. There she was able to focus her practice on psychology, and she earned a doctorate in school psychology in 2011.
She teaches a mix of classes at Milligan under early childhood education. Though she is no longer directly working with children, she is preparing students that will.
“It’s my hope, my wish, that they will carry their leadership and passion on with them. I want them to always remember the difference they can make in one child’s life,” she said.
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This story was edited on Oct. 4, 2011 to correct an error describing Hilton-Prilhart’s family.
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