I am Dr. Barbara Qualls, and I am currently a member of the graduate faculty at SFA, serving as the Program Coordinator for the M.Ed.-Leadership degree program, as well as the principal certification and superintendent certification programs. I also teach the law/finance and research courses in the Ed.D.-Leadership degree program. Since 2019, I have held the E.J. Campbell Distinguished Professorship for Educational Leadership Endowed Chair. I recently completed a term as a member of the national Education Law Association and currently serve on the Conference Planning committee. I also write the Governance chapter of the Education Law Yearbook. While I enjoy teaching almost any course in the degree plan, I am especially happy with the law classes and teach those almost exclusively. As Program Coordinator, I will be your contact point for information about degree plan changes, mentor problems or changes, GPA issues, graduation, certification testing, and preparation – just about anything that applies to your M.Ed. or certification.

My life before SFA:

I hold a Bachelor/Music degree from UT-Arlington and M.Ed. and Ph.D. from the University of North Texas. In addition, I have graduate hours from UT-Austin and the University of Houston. My teaching field was high school band – happiest job(s) of my life. I had the privilege and luck also to have a wonderful career in school administration: curriculum director, junior high principal, high school principal, and 14 years as superintendent. Every day is a new and humbling experience to let me know that I don’t ‘know it all’ but there is a good chance that over the many years of my career, I have seen it all!

I live in Nacogdoches, where I am active in several clubs and organizations, but my current obsession is travel! The photo above is from Spring Break 2017, where I spent 10 days in Rome and Venice. Summer 2017 was exciting – 10 days in Holland, France, and Switzerland and then another 10 days in Havana, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. I went to Paris for a week during Spring Break 2018 and went to Rio de Janeiro in August 2018. In July 2019, I went to Japan with Educational Leaders Without Borders. In March 2020, I went to Johannesburg, South Africa as one of the 8-member delegation from the University Council for Educational Administration, then on a marvelous photo safari to the Jabulani Preserve. Immediately upon my return, the COVID-19 quarantine began! At Christmas 2021, I went to Paris and other parts of northern France, then in Summer 2022, I went to the Decennial Oberammergau in Germany. At Christmas 2022, I went (back) to Budapest and Vienna and for Spring Break 2023, I went to Vancouver, British Columbia. I will ask you to join me via Facebook for future travel.