Vicki Stayton, Ph.D.

Associate Director

Vicki Stayton, Ph.D. is Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education (IECE), School of Teacher Education, Western Kentucky University (WKU). At WKU, she coordinated the BS and MAT blended Early Childhood and Early Childhood Special Education (EC/ECSE) programs. Her research/scholarly activities have focused on personnel preparation. Dr. Stayton was PI or Co-PI on 5 state and 7 OSEP grants specific to preservice education and professional development totaling over 6.5 million dollars. She has been active in both state and national initiatives having served as a Past-President of the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), as chair of DEC’s Personnel Preparation Committee, and co-chair of the personnel preparation strand for DEC’s recommended practices. She has served on CEC, NAEYC, and state committees specific to personnel standards and accreditation. Currently, she is a member of the CEC Standards Development Workgroup which will be drafting new CEC personnel standards, DEC’s representative to CEC’s Knowledge and Skills Subcommittee, and chair of the DEC Personnel Preparation Committee for which she facilitated the 2017 revalidation of DEC’s Specialty Sets and revision of its Personnel Standards Position Statement.