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 a Past President of the Florida
Chapter of the Association for the Education and
Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired
(Florida AER) and was 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,
Ph.D.
Coordinator, Orientation and Mobility Specialization
205 Stone Building
phone: (850) 644-8407
E-mail:
epace@fsu.edu Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Bischof is the coordinator of the
Orientation and Mobility Specialization for the Program in
Visual Impairment. She earned her doctorate in Special
Education with an emphasis in Visual Disabilities from Florida
State University. Her dissertation explored the provision of
orientation and mobility instruction for children with low
vision. Dr. Bischof is nationally certified as an Orientation
and Mobility Specialist by the Academy for Certification of
Vision Rehabilitation and Education Professionals (ACVREP), and
as a Teacher of Individuals with Visual Impairments in the
State of Florida. Her K-12 teaching experience includes working
as an itinerant Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments and
an Orientation and Mobility Instructor. Dr. Bischof previously
coordinated the FSU Satellite Teacher-Training Program as part
of the University Partnership Center at St. Petersburg College,
and was coordinator and researcher for the Florida Low Vision
Initiative, which is funded through a grant from the Florida
Department of Education.
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.
Mrs. Glaser 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. Mrs. Glaser
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, Mrs. Glaser 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, Mrs. Glaser has
been the local program coordinator for FSU's
Program in Visual Impairment at the University
Partnership Center/St. Petersburg College in
Seminole.
Mrs. 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 Mrs. Oquendo 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, Mrs. Oquendo
moved to Atlanta, GA to work with the BEGIN Program
at the Center for the Visually Impaired. In June
2003, Mrs. Oquendo 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.
