Sandra Lewis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Childhood Education, Reading, and Disability Services in the College of Education at Florida State University. She earned her Ed.D. in Special Education through the joint doctoral program between San Francisco State University and the University of California at Berkeley in 1993. Prior to earning her degree, Dr. Lewis worked for nearly fifteen years as a teacher of students with visual impairments and as an educational diagnostician. She currently coordinates the Program in Visual Impairment at FSU and conducts research in the current status and efficacy of services to students who are blind or who have low vision. Dr. Lewis is the author of chapters in professional books on topics as varied as educational programming, assessment, provision of low vision services, and teaching career education to blind and low vision students in elementary school. Dr. Lewis has directed several federal and state funded contracts and grants related to personnel preparation and improving services to all individuals who are visually impaired. Currently, Dr. Lewis is the immediate Past President of the Florida Chapter of the Association for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Division on Visual Impairments of the Council for Exceptional Children.
Dr. Amy McKenzie is an Assistant Professor in the Program in Visual Impairments. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments program. Prior to coming to FSU, Dr. McKenzie coordinated the online Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments Master's Degree Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her K-12 teaching experience includes working as an itinerant Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments and a Deafblind Specialist in Texas.
Dr. McKenzie's university training began as a Visual Impairment and Elementary Education undergraduate student at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. She obtained her Master's Degree in Deafblindness and her Doctorate in Special Education/Deafblindness from Texas Tech University. While a doctoral student, Dr. McKenzie worked with Koenig and Holbrook on the various literacy projects including the development and dissemination of Project SLATE. Her research interests include literacy skills of students who are deafblind or visually impaired, supervision of paraprofessionals working with students who are visually impaired, inclusion of students who are visually impaired and personnel preparation.
Eileen M. Bischof is the coordinator of the Orientation and Mobility Specialization for the Program in Visual Impairment. She earned a Master of Science degree in Visual Disabilities from Florida State University in 1995 where she is currently completing her doctoral program. Eileen is a Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist and a Teacher of Individuals with Visual Impairments. Her K-12 teaching experience includes working as an itinerant Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments and an Orientation and Mobility Instructor. Her previous experiences include coordinating the FSU Satellite Teacher-Training Program in St. Petersburg and the Florida Low Vision Initiative.
Lynda Jones has served as the Coordinator
of both the traditional on campus and the
work-study programs in Rehabilitation
Teaching (RT) Specialization, since 1996.
Her primary duties include teaching the
core RT courses, advising students, and
supervising internships. Before coming to
FSU, Ms. Jones worked for the Texas
Commission for the Blind as a Rehabilitation
Teacher and as a Human Resource Development
Specialist.
Lynda Jones graduated from the Rehabilitation
Teaching Program at the University of Arkansas
at Little Rock and holds current certification
through the Academy for Certification of Vision
Rehabilitation and Education Professionals
(ACVREP). Her professional honors include two
national awards, the Bruce McKenzie Award for
outstanding service in the field of Rehabilitation
Teaching and the Rehabilitation Services
Administration Award for Excellence in
Rehabilitation Education. Ms. Jones is active in
several professional organizations and is a member
of the American Foundation for the Blind Board of
Trustees.
Sue began her educational journey at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education. Upon completion of her degree, she attended Florida State University and earned a Master of Science degree in Visual Disabilities. She taught at the Indiana School for the Blind for several summer programs as a classroom teacher and orientation and mobility instructor. She quickly learned that life was much better (warmer) in Florida. Sue currently resides in Tampa where she worked as a project researcher for Florida State University on the Florida Low Vision Initiative for 4 years and where she has been a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments and Orientation and Mobility Instructor since 2001 for the School District of Hillsborough County.
Every summer since 2003, Sue directs and teaches a summer transition program for high school blind and visually impaired students, Journey to Success, for the Tampa Lighthouse for the Blind. Since August of 2003, Sue has been the local program coordinator for FSU's Program in Visual Impairment at the University Partnership Center/St. Petersburg College in Seminole.
Heidi Oquendo earned both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Florida State University. Her undergraduate degree is in Elementary Education. Her Master's degree is in Teaching Children with Visual Impairment and Blindness, with an emphasis in early childhood.
Upon graduation Heidi moved to Statesboro, Georgia, were she was employed as an itinerant teacher of students with visual impairments with First District RESA. In June of 1999, Heidi moved to Atlanta, GA to work with the BEGIN Program at the Center for the Visually Impaired. In June 2003, Heidi became the coordinator of the Satellite Program in Visual Impairments in the state of Georgia, where she currently teaches courses and recruits new teachers to the field.
