Stephanie Ferguson, born in Lancaster, PA, is the Executive Director of Early College and Director of the Program for the Exceptionally Gifted. Dr. Ferguson celebrates a spattering of degrees: she got her PhD from the University of Southern Mississippi, her MEd from Southeastern Louisiana University, and her Bachelors of Secondary English Education from Millersville University. Throughout college, Dr. Ferguson changed majors five times, from International Relations, to Spanish, to Spanish Education, to English, to English education.
Dr. Ferguson began her career teaching English in a parochial school in New Orleans. “That’s where I got my first exposure to actually having gifted kids in the classroom,” she says. “I was in a gifted program growing up, but it was never really on my radar.” Teaching gifted children greatly appealed to Dr. Ferguson. She explains, “I think I saw myself in them. I knew what I was missing out on as I went to high school and there was no gifted program. It really was about what I could give back to the students.”
After moving from Charlottesville to Waynesboro while working at the University of Virginia in the Curry School of Education, Dr. Ferguson got word of an open position in the Early College program at Mary Baldwin. The job logistically appealed to her, as she could now work on the same side of the mountain. In addition, Dr. Ferguson had known about the program since 1996, when she first heard about it in her masters program. She has enjoyed working in Early College for eight years now.
The best part about the program: “They keep me young,” Dr. Ferguson laughs, “at the same time that they give me gray hair.” She appreciates the role she plays now more so than her former position at the University of Virginia. “At UVa, I was more of an administrator, and I didn’t get to work with the students. Here, my office is in the dorm, and I really get to know everyone.” There are some difficulties, however. Dr. Ferguson is in loco parentis, or “in the place of a parent” for 72 gifted young women, underage on a college campus, Because of that, she must be on call 24/7 during the academic year.
All in all, Dr. Ferguson enjoys her job working with gifted students in Early College. She appreciates that “you don’t have to know exactly what you want to do here, it’s about finding the right fit.”