Dr. Jennifer Montgomery and Darius Avery Bell

Dr. Jennifer Montgomery (BA ’92, MA ’97, EdD ‘20) was married to Darius Avery Bell for 17 years. They loved each other dearly and their home was always filled with laughter. They enjoyed travelling and spending time with family. They are both dreamers and believe that it important to think about future goals and the steps you must take to reach them.

In 2019, while Jennifer was in her second year of her doctoral program, they adopted their first child, Devyn. Four months later, Darius passed away.

Darius was the youngest of four siblings. He loved old Hollywood, classic movies, and cars. He was always well dressed, with clothes and shoes for days, and worked as a stylist, dressing celebrities for many years. Darius loved Jen deeply, and was very proud of her education. He started calling her “Dr.” once she began the Educational Leadership Doctoral program. He loved his son, Devyn, and the family they created together.

Dr. Jennifer Montgomery was also the youngest of four and worked in Early Childhood Education since she was 18. She is a professor of Early Childhood Education (ECE) at a community college and a triple alum of CSULB. She believes in the critical importance of ECE and wants to inspire and support others who share that belief. She wants to change the perception of ECE within higher education, elevating the status of ECE research within the doctoral program.

Dr. Montgomery defended her dissertation spring 2020, “Trauma Informed Care: The Perceptions of Head Start Teachers” which, “investigates Head Start teachers’ perceptions and understandings of trauma- affected behaviors, factors that attribute to the cause and perpetuation of trauma, and strategies of trauma-informed-care (TIC) within the Head Start preschool program.” Dr. Montgomery shared that she established The Early Childhood Education Research Scholarship in Memory of Darius Avery Bell at the end of her dissertation.


The College of Education (CED) expresses gratitude to all scholarship donors who continue to enhance the quality of education students experience at CSULB.