I throw my full support behind Democrat Dr. Beth Farokhi for State School Superintendent in 2010

Beth is a native of Augusta, Georgia where she attended public schools. She double majored in Elementary Education and Health and Physical Education at LaGrange College, received a M.A.T. from Emory University, and a doctorate in Higher Education from the University of Georgia.

Drawn by the power education has to shape and inspire others to greatness, Beth spent over thirty years working tirelessly in education. Her expertise and passion is marked by an admirable record of professional achievement at the local, state, and national level.

Beth began her career in education as a public school teacher in Cobb County schools. For nearly six years, while completing her graduate degrees in education, Beth taught elementary school in an innovative curriculum setting. During this time, Beth served on county wide committees for curriculum, textbook selection, mathematics curriculum objectives, and was appointed by the superintendent to revamp the non-graded curriculum and reporting system for grades 1-12.

Following the completion of her master's degree from Emory University and her doctorate degree from the University of Georgia, Beth began a career as an administrator in the College of Education at Georgia State University where she was honored for exemplary long-time service and dedication to the college. In 2004, Beth created the Georgia State University Leadership Academy for Women, a year long program focused on professional and personal skill development. She was a Co-Principal Investigator for the Integrating Gender Equity and Reform grant, a National Science Foundation three year collaborative with five Georgia higher education campuses.

Beth's leadership in the field of education also took flight outside of her duties at Georgia State. In 1992, Beth created the international newsletter, Educational Equity Report which she edited for thirteen years. Further, Beth served on the national board of the American Association of University Women for two terms as Executive Vice President/Secretary. She served previously on the Board as Regional Director for the South Atlantic Region for four years where she traveled to six states and Puerto Rico providing leadership training. In addition, she served two years on the national board of the Legal Advocacy Fund. She has served on the National Advisory Board for Gender Inclusion for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. She was a part of the Curriculum Advisory Board and the Strategic Planning Committee for the newly formed Atlanta Girls School in Atlanta.

Beth lives in Cobb County with her husband of 34 years, Dr. N.R. Farokhi a professor of political science at Morris Brown College, and their daughter, Sanaz, a college student. Beth has two adult sons, Amir, an attorney in Atlanta, and Arman, an environmentalist in St. Louis, Missouri.

Honors include:

• Who's Who Women of the Year in Education, 2008
• Named Woman of Achievement in Georgia 2005, Georgia AAUW
• Recognized for making significant contributions to gender equity by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
• Selected five times to Who's Who in American Education
• Selected five times to Who's Who of Professional and Business Women
• Recognized as Outstanding Alumni from LaGrange College
• Recognized three times as a named gift honoree for the Educational Foundation of the American Association of Women
• First recipient on the Individual Impact for Equity Award from AAUW of Georgia
• Elected to Kappa Delta Pi, International Education Honor Society

Memberships include:

• Association of Classroom Teachers
• Representative from Local School Association of Supervision and Curriculum
• Georgia Adult Education Association
• Georgia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
• Georgia Association of Educators
• Cobb County Education Association
• Georgia Association of Teacher Educators

Ms. Farokhi is a well, accomplished woman who has acheived alot. Now some people have said the State School Superintendent Office should be abolish, but as bad as Georgia Public schools are, this office is needed & Dr. Farokhi has the qualifications to make that office a very productive one. I endorse her candidacy for State School Superintendent because she has the vision & experience to lead our deteriorating schools to prominence & that she will clean up the mess that has occurred under Incumbent Kathy Cox. No offense to Brian Westlake, but Dr. Farokhi is the right person to clean up our ailing schools.