Faculty & Staff

Julie Lochbaum received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Religion from Truman State University (then Northeast Missouri State University) in 1980. She began her teaching career as a teacher's aid in Kirksville’s first classroom for the visually impaired [this was the title then] under the legendary Mrs. Frances Webb in 1976. Mrs. Webb had been educated at the Perkins School for the Blind. After graduation Julie directed children’s and youth education programming at the Adair County YMCA, beginning a tradition of involvement in community-based educational settings. Julie received her Master’s degree in Teaching (M.A.T.) with an emphasis in secondary social studies in 1986 from the University of South Carolina. Julie’s teaching experience includes: Irmo High School (Lexington County District #5); adult education Lexington County District #2; Historic Columbia Foundation community-based education; the Graduate School of Education of the University of South Carolina; and also Director of Christian Education for Westminster Presbyterian Church. 

Completing her Ph.D. in Foundations of Education from the University of South Carolina in 1993, Julie specialized in the roles of race and religion in American education. She served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of South Carolina, teaching various foundations courses in the graduate school of the College of Education - Philosophy of Education; School and the Social Order; Educational Psychology; History of Education; Southern History of Education. Julie also served as a Fellow of the Wardlaw Education Museum.

In 1998, Julie returned to Kirksville accepting an appointment as Assistant Professor of Medical Education at A.T. Still University, with responsibilities in the capacity of a faculty development officer. In 2003, Julie accepted the appointment to be the founding director of Truman’s Center for Teaching and Learning, a faculty development post she held until 2010. Since the autumn of 2010, Julie has been a member of the Education Department faculty with teaching responsibilities for Foundations courses, JINS, and serving as a member of the Disability Studies Minor faculty. She was promoted to full Professor in 2011.  She currently serves on the Adair County SB 40 Board, the board that taxes Adair Countians to provide services to persons with developmental disabilities.

In her private life, Julie is the mother of two adult children. She is also well-known as a tea lover and a prairie gardener.