Alumni Spotlight

Marcia Davidson

Marcia Davidson is a researcher, a consultant, and an advisor in reading and literacy education and special education.


Marcia is currently Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Adult Literacy Research Center at Georgia State University. She recently led the Reading Team on a USAID-funded Early Grade Reading Project in partnership with the implementation partner, FHI360 in Ghana. She continues her role as a consultant to the project. Marcia used her expertise in literacy and education and served at different positions and teams, such as leading the Reading Team within the USAID Education sector, consulting on education projects with the World Bank, and as a principal consultant for projects at the American Institutes for Research. She was an Assistant Professor at the University of Utah and University of Maine, and an Associate Professor at Western Washington University.

Marcia received her Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of Washington in Seattle. She has enormous professional experience in the field. Up to date, Marcia has been offered positions to consult, (re)build, assess, implement or develop different projects aimed at learning, literacy or special education for different countries, including Sri Lanka, India, Laos, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Zambia, South Africa, Mozambique and Ghana.

During her Fulbright fellowship, Marcia worked with her colleagues from UPJŠ Košice, a regional public health organization, local NGO working on reading and oral health to young children in rural Roma settlements. She visited special education schools, a horse therapy program for children with disabilities, a diagnostic center and other institutions. Marcia held lectures for medical students and presentations for Slovak colleagues and other experts in the field. She participated in different conferences and meetings, among others, Roma Education Conference in Košice where she met a number of dedicated educators and learned more about the context of education and the Roma in (Eastern) Slovakia. Her mentor and dear friend at UPJŠ Košice during her stay was Zuzana Katreniaková.

According to Marcia, “My Fulbright experience in Kosice has most certainly transformed my life. I have met so many wonderful people who have been willing to include me in their lives. … It is difficult to capture in words the impact this experience has had on my life!”