Dr. Fran Austin

PEACHTREE CITY GA — January 19, 2012 — Dr. Linda L. Curtis, Acting Director and Area Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment for the Department of Defense (DoD) Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools (DDESS) and Department of Defense Dependents Schools, Cuba, (DoDDS-Cuba) has announced that Dr. Frances Austin has been named Deputy Area Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment. Dr. Austin assumed her new duties Jan. 1, 2012.

Dr. Austin brings extensive teaching and administrative experience to the position. She has served the past six years as an Instructional Systems Specialist (ISS) in the DDESS/DoDDS-Cuba Area Service Center where she supervised the Early Childhood Program. She has also designed, implemented and evaluated PK-12 educational programs in direct support of DoDEA's Community Strategic Plan. She has created and presented a variety of exceptional training topics for DDESS teachers and administrators.  

"Fran will provide outstanding leadership and innovative solutions in the area of curriculum development and guiding DDESS administrators and teachers transitioning to the 21st Century School concept." Curtis said.  

Prior to coming to DDESS, Dr. Austin spent seven years as an elementary school principal for DoDDS-Europe in Incirlik, Turkey, and Sigonella, Sicily. From 1996 to 1998 she served as the assistant principal at Lakenheath, United Kingdom. She was a classroom and gifted education teacher in the United Kingdom, North Carolina and South Carolina for twenty years prior to becoming a school administrator. 

Dr. Austin earned her Bachelor's of Arts degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; her Master's of Education degree in Educational Supervision, Curriculum and Administration from Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC.; and her Doctorate of Education in Educational Administration from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK.