Name: Joy Fuqua Earned Degrees: M.S. Special Education, B.S. Elementary Education

Glad to have you visit our special education community! As a native of western Kansas, I have had a long relationship with Fort Hays State University as I received both my undergraduate and graduate degrees from here and then taught in western Kansas both in regular education and special education until 1992 when I became one of  the university's first full-time, off-campus instructors to be located on the Dodge City Community College Campus. This entailed traveling western Kansas to supervise students in clinical experiences and instructing special education, secondary education and elementary education courses that were being offered throughout the area.
During this time the university advanced their course delivery to include a new interactive television system which joined to systems already in existence throughout western Kansas. After spending two years on the road with some distances being over 100 miles one-way I became actively involved in increasing the amount of courses being offered by the College of Education by using the adjoining systems. This experience afforded me the luxury of being offered a campus position as the assistant dean of what was then known as the Department of Continuing Education. So  I moved my children (My husband Brad and I had four of them by then) to Hays while Brad stayed in Dodge City during the week to maintain his financial planning business.
As assistant dean I began working with the university faculty to train for mediated instruction and design their classes so that they would be interesting and active for the learner. It was exciting to be involved in research and practice as the departments sought better ways to design and deliver courses through mediation. Production took on a whole new meaning and I was involved in it passionately. The focus on instruction and design  affected both those involved in distance education and those just hearing the enthusiasm that it generated. It really was contagious!
In 1999 in an effort to join my family together again I relocated back to western Kansas and worked independently as a distance education consultant for Emporia university located east of here and supervised clinical experiences for students being placed by universities not located in the area.  A year ago I went back into the public school system as an inter related teacher. That year brought an awareness to me of the many changes in the field of special education since the time I had been away, especially the shortage of qualified special education teachers. Last summer I was approached by the university to join the faculty of special education in their work in providing students accessible special education courses in western Kansas. I determined it to be a great honor and accepted. I am truly excited to assist many of you in meeting some of the challenges that those of us in the field of special education must meet. If you are interested in joining the field or need assistance with information on our programs and certification please give me a call or email me I would be glad to assist you.