ATHENS, Ga. – State School Superintendent Kathy Cox will be the special guest speaker at the University of Georgia College of Education’s Fall Convocation on Friday, Dec. 19, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall in the Performing Arts Center.
Cox, who was elected to the state’s top K-12 education post in 2002, has devoted her career to education and education-related issues. For the past 15 years, she worked with the Fayette County Board of Education as a social studies teacher, most recently at Mclntosh High School, a 2001 Georgia School of Excellence.
As state school superintendent, Cox serves as the executive director of the Georgia Department of Education. In that capacity, she is the state’s top elected official over Georgia’s K-12 public schools and the chief executive officer of the State Board of Education.
It is the vision of the Department of Education to lead the nation in improving student achievement. To accomplish this vision, Cox has made it the mission of the department to function as a service-oriented, policy-driven, and restructured agency that meets the needs of local school systems as they work to prepare all students for college or a professional career.
Cox, a resident of Fayette County, was first elected into public office as State Representative of the 105th District in 1998 and served two terms.
In 2001, the House Republican leadership appointed her deputy minority whip. Cox has been recognized as both an exemplary educator and legislator, receiving the Georgia Outstanding Social Studies Educator Award and the Safe Kids Coalition of Georgia Legislative Award. She has also been twice recognized as a “Friend of Scouting” by the Flint River Boy Scout Council.
She received both her master’s and bachelor’s of arts in political science from Emory University, where she graduated with high honors and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
