Gretchen A. Oltman, JD, PhD

Department

• Interdisciplinary Studies

Position

• Associate Professor

Dr. Oltman is an experienced educator with over twenty years spent in the classroom and in educational leadership positions. She currently serves as an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and Program Director of the Master of Science in Organizational Leadership.  She is a licensed attorney and earned a Ph.D. in Educational Studies. She also maintains a professional Nebraska 7-12 teaching (English and Political Science) in addition to a 7-12 principal’s/administrative certificate. As a public school teacher, she had the opportunity to develop curriculum, teach reading and writing courses, and manage multiple aspects of assessment. She also supervised multiple K-12 student teaching candidates throughout Nebraska and Iowa. She regularly presents at local and national conferences, including the National Conference for Teachers of English and the Education Law Association. She is an Executive Committee Member on the NCTE's Standing Committee Against Censorship, a group dedicated to the protection of the First Amendment in our nation's schools. She is the author or co-author of five books including Violence in Student Writing: A Guide for School Administrators (2010), Law Meets Literature: A Novel Approach to the English Classroom (2015), Prepare to Chair: Leading the Thesis and Dissertation Process (2019), The Themes that Bind Us: Simplifying U.S. Supreme Court Cases for the Social Studies Classroom (2018), The Supreme 15: Cases and Materials for the AP Government and Politics Exam (2019) and What's Your Leadership Story: A School Leader's Guide to Aligning How You Lead with Who You Are (2021). Her research interests include studying the intersections of law, education, and leadership.

Books

• , 221-230

Articles

• , 17-29
• , pending, pending
• , 1(1), 14-23
• , 1(2)
• , 75(3), 142-45

Publications

• , Publication No. AAT 3350257

Editing and Reviews

• , 2 issues-2010

Presentations

Research and Scholarship Interests

• Dr. Oltman's research interests include education law issues, censorship challenges, leadership development, and issues surrounding public education.

Grant Funding Received

• Grant Recipient, 2016 Office for Academic Excellent and Assessment (AEA) for “Meeting Milestones: Assessing the Effect of a Dissertation Proposal Development Course on the Quality and Timeliness of Dissertation Proposals and Defenses” (proposal submitted with Dr. Jim Martin and Dr. Leah Georges) - $2,000
• Grant Recipient, 2018-2019, Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) Development Grant for “Professional Leadership Philosophies Across Disciplines” (proposal submitted with Dr. Vicki Bautista) - $1,300

• Harold I. Moser Scholarship, 2015
• 2013-2014 Fellow to the Nebraska State Bar Association Leadership Academy, 2013
• 2012 Mom Congress Delegate for the State of Nebraska, Parenting Magazine, 2012
• 2010 NASSP High School Level Dissertation of the Year Award, National Association of Secondary School Principals, 2010
• Florence Turner Karlin Scholarship, Lincoln Community Foundation, 2009
• Peter Kiewit Teacher Achievement Award, 2002
• John Gradwohl/Nebraska Council of School Attorneys Scholarship, 1997
• Eastman Memorial Law Scholarship, 1995
• Shawn L. Markel Memorial Scholarship, 1990
• M.M. and W.F. Hoppe Memorial Scholarship, 1990