Judy Engelhard has been named an associate dean in the Spadoni College of Education at Coastal Carolina University. Her duties will include administration, outreach and graduate studies.

Engelhard joined the Coastal Carolina University faculty in 2004. Mostly recently, she has served as coordinator of the Special Education program and center director for Project CREATE, which addresses the shortage of special education teachers in South Carolina.

Prior to coming to Coastal, she was the special education outreach coordinator in the Graduate School of Education at George Mason University. Engelhard served as a chair for the special education program at Radford University for five years and as the special education coordinator for Roanoke County Schools for seven years. Much of her professional work has been in specific learning dDisabilities, reading instruction and remediation, teacher quality and public policy. She earned a doctorate from Virginia Tech and has extensive leadership experience in working with schools, policymakers, professional organizations and community agencies on grants and legislative/policy developments at the national level.

"We are pleased to have someone in the Spadoni College with such a high level of administrative and program development experience," said Gib Darden, interim dean of the Spadoni College of Education. "Her skills and knowledge will help advance the college in making innovative connections, as well as coordinating and facilitating greater access to our programs."