Milan (Johnson) Blackwell graduated from high school at age 16, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Grand Canyon University in six years, and on Feb. 9, 2024, sat before a doctoral dissertation committee fully, visibly near the end of pregnancy.
“I apologize if I am out of breath,” she told the committee analyzing her dissertation proposal.
“I am not one to give excuses, but I was sweating,” Blackwell recalled recently. “I went to the hospital the next day.”
On Feb. 12, she had twins – Elliot-St and Emmett-St.
“She gave birth and got right back into her dissertation; I have no idea how,” said College of Education Dean Dr. Meredith Critchfield. “She might be Superwoman.”
Four months later, her dissertation was approved. Blackwell had completed three degrees in less than 10 years at GCU, while working six years as a middle school math teacher in the Valley and having three children – the first, Evan Jr., was born shortly after her first doctoral residency, “when I was due to have him any day.”
“When I set a goal, I will reach it,” she said. “There are no ifs, ands or buts.”
No one was prouder than Critchfield. When she first met the then fresh-faced Milan Johnson, Critchfield was a professor before her own rise to dean, when she served on Blackwell’s dissertation committee as a content expert.
“I always knew there was something special about her curiosity and ambition around education,” Critchfield said. “She was a fantastic student who went on to pursue her master’s degree and came back and wanted to get a doctorate and asked me to sit on her dissertation committee. I immediately said yes.
“The opportunity to teach someone with such a gift was incredible. Little did I know she was becoming a mother. It spoke volumes to me about her ambition and her passion to improve the lives of students.”
Blackwell said she always loved children, volunteering to babysit whenever she could, and knew she wanted to be a teacher, especially of the underserved who don’t have the resources available to others.
Because of her excellence in school, she skipped third and fifth grades, graduated at 16 from Desert Vista High School in Ahwatukee, and soon was doing well among older students living on GCU’s campus.
One of her GCU teachers was Critchfield in a class about learning how to teach English language courses.
“Even though I teach math, a lot of the things I learned from her methods course helped me be the teacher I am today,” she said. “I stayed connected with her. She was always honest and gave thorough feedback. That is why I chose her as my content expert.”
After earning a degree in elementary education with an emphasis in math in 2018, she became a teacher while working on a master’s degree in secondary education that she completed in 2020 during the pandemic. She teaches eighth grade math at Mosley Middle School in Tempe
Her parents always encouraged higher education but even they said maybe it was time to take a break. She would have none of it, starting her study toward a doctorate, while having her first child with husband Evan.
“My husband and mom were my biggest supporters. They were rooting for me and ensuring I didn’t need extra time to finish,” said Blackwell, who's from Chandler, Arizona. “Mostly, I would complete my coursework on weekends. When I would put the kids to sleep, I would spend (weekday) nights finding research articles.”
The focus of her dissertation was to determine if a math intervention program called Vmath made a positive difference in math scores for middle school students. She found it did, and the research completed her requirements this summer toward a doctorate in organizational leadership, which she plans to accept with all her family and little ones in tow at GCU in October.
One of the keys was enlisting Critchfield.
“She provided very thorough feedback, but she doesn’t take a lot of time to provide it. It’s like instant; I didn’t have to wait,” she said. “It’s amazing. This was the person I needed on my committee.”
Meanwhile, Critchfield’s own career took off, being named COE dean in 2021.
“I feel like she and I are on an upward professional trajectory together. To get to walk alongside her is really special,” Critchfield said. “She has come leaps and bounds since I’ve known her, and I’ve come up, too. For me, it’s a full circle moment. There is nothing more valuable for a faculty member than to see your students achieve greatness.”
Blackwell is doing what she set out to do, helping children in a Title 1 school with math, and said GCU was key through it all with professors who went the extra mile to make sure she was successful, including her mentor and cheerleader.
“She wanted to go out and serve; she wanted to serve students to help them be the best they can be,” Critchfield said. “She represents the heart of GCU and the alums who graduate from our programs; they aren’t just people who go out and make a title for themselves but are good people at the same time.
“Now I call her Dr. Blackwell.”
Grand Canyon University senior writer Mike Kilen can be reached at [email protected]
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