Beth Day-Hairston
Dean
College of Education and Professional Studies
Beth Day-Hairston became the new dean of the School of Education and Professional Studies in January 2021.
Dr. Day-Hairston came to Fort Valley State University from Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) where she served as Chair and former coordinator of Special Education in the Department of Education in the College of Arts, Sciences, Business, and Education. While at WSSU, Day-Hairston created strategies to help candidates maintain a 100% rate on the Special Education Praxis II licensure exam, worked to increase the licensure test pass rate on Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators, Praxis Subject Assessments, and the Foundations of Reading/General Curriculum Pearson exam by instituting mandatory prep sessions, actions plans, meetings, boot camps, and course restructuring. This model has been adopted by other education programs to help increase the pass rate of candidates in the Educator Preparation Program.
Dr. Day-Hairston is a former public-school special education teacher who brings with her over 20 years of faculty and leadership experiences in education. She presents extensively at conferences at the local, state, and national level. While at WSSU, she secured close to $2.5 million in external funding. She is active in local organizations and has served at the national level in her professional organization, the Council for Exceptional Children, as the Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders Multicultural Member-at-Large.
“Our distinguished faculty and staff in the College of Education and Professional Studies are instrumental to the success of our graduates in education and counseling, resulting in over 95% of graduates securing employment prior to graduation. When students decide to apply to FVSU, they are entering a unique college that is known for developing an excellent rapport with students, maintaining a small teacher to student ration, mentoring students, providing diverse field experiences and internships that yield high ratings from supervisors, demonstrating high impact practices and creating a personalized environment, “ Day-Hairston said.
Dr. Day-Hairston earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Special Education from Winston-Salem State University, a master’s degree in special education from Appalachian State University, and a Ph.D. in Special Education and Literacy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Day-Hairston and her husband, Gregory, have two sons, G. Carl Hairston, Jr. (Veronica), Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs at North Carolina A & T State University and Morgan Hairston, a junior at North Carolina A & T State University.