Faculty Q&A: Christal Edmunds, Ph.D., Professor of Education Tuesday, November 4, 2025
"The most important reason to choose Point Park University is that we are a deeply engaged faculty. Our class sizes are small, and we’re able to get to know you well as a student. We also provide tremendous experiences for students. We teach the way that we would hope students are going to teach their children in their classroom someday."
Christal Edmunds, Ph.D., is a professor of education and the director of undergraduate programs at Point Park. Like so many School of Education faculty members, she brings years of experience teaching children to help prepare education majors for their own classroom someday. In the Q&A and video below, Edmunds shares more about her experience and philosophy of education.
What is your past experience in teaching, and how does that impact what you do in the classroom?
Ever since I was a little girl, I knew that teaching is what I was called to do. I became a Montessori teacher initially and am certified in Pre-K through eighth grade, along with my Montessori certification. When I came to Point Park University, I came with that profound interest that I have in the philosophy of education. That question of "Why do we do what we do with young children?" is so important to me.
In my classes, I teach about the philosophies of different people. In Educational Theories and Practices, we go all the way back to the 1500s and study John Amos Comenius and work our way up through people as contemporary as Ron Clark. Recently, I took a small group of students who had been part of this philosophy class to the New Teacher Conference at the Ron Clark Academy to learn from him and his staff directly.
What do you like about teaching at Point Park University?
First, we have a wonderful student body at Point Park — students who are eager and excited to learn about education and how to best address the needs of young children in our challenging world today.
Secondly, I love our faculty and our staff. We are a strong team that works together to provide the best experience possible for our students, and I’m really proud to be part of it.
Why should a student choose Point Park University?
The most important reason to choose Point Park University is that we have a deeply engaged faculty. Our class sizes are small, so we’re able to get to know you well as a student. We also provide tremendous experiences for students. I believe wholeheartedly in providing experiences for my students so that they can learn through hands-on, engaging activities.
For example, in the School of Education, we spend a great deal of time working with students on hands-on activities, such as our Matt’s Maker Spaces. We teach the way that we hope students will teach their classes someday.
In addition, we take students out into the community. We have many, many community connections, collaborations and partnerships with schools and organizations in the Pittsburgh area. Our students have a wealth of experiences around us, from the Children’s Museum to the Heinz History Center, to a variety of school districts and private schools.
What’s the advantage of attending a university Downtown?
Because we are in an urban setting, our population and field experiences are very diverse, and we’re proud of that. In addition, being Downtown offers so many opportunities for students in terms of daily activities, like Market Square, The Point, Starbucks, along with all the theater and sports opportunities here in Pittsburgh.
Tell us about a special moment in the classroom.
I teach some of the initial courses first-year students take, and I get to know students when they’re 18-year-olds and a little bit intimidated by all this new educational language and ideas that they’re hearing from us.
Then four years later, I also teach a senior seminar when they are student teaching. They meet with me and we talk about their student teaching experience, along with all of the nuts and bolts of what they need to do to apply for their certification.
I see students when they’re the 18-year-olds who are just starting this journey, and then I see them when they’ve mastered all of the skills, ideas and theories that we’ve taught for four years, and they’re able to go out and do it. There they are, conducting a class of their own. That’s probably the most exciting thing for me — and I know for the rest of the faculty — that we get to watch our students grow and develop into the professional teachers that they are going to become.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
One of the greatest things we're able to do at Point Park University is prepare our teachers to work with this changing world in a way that’s most effective and developmentally appropriate for children. Teachers in a classroom can be profoundly positive or profoundly negative in a child’s life. We work diligently in the School of Education to help you be the best teacher that you can be, because we know that just one teacher really tapping into a child and being that positive force can change that child’s life forever. We work hard to be that for you, so you can be that for the children that you’ll work with.
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