Joyce Freeman, center, is seen with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, his wife Marty, right, and Freeman’s daughter and her grandchildren in the Georgia State Capitol when she was sworn in as a board member for the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning.
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Grad Urges Students to Persevere as She Accepts Georgia State Position
When Joyce Freeman, ’11, was sworn in as a board member of the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, she knew that her bachelor of science degree in organizational leadership from the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith helped her get there.
“At UAFS, I learned to communicate with people, and I became more confident with taking a leadership role,” Freeman said. “In my degree, I learned problem-solving techniques.”
Years of experience and other college experiences also helped her on her way.
Freeman is from the western Arkansas region. She attended Fort Smith and Greenwood schools and later raised her children in Alma schools.
Freeman taught in early childhood programs for 18 years. In the early 2000s, she completed an associate degree at Carl Albert State College in Poteau. The degree made her eligible for a $10,000 annual raise, working in an Alma Arkansas Better Chance Program. She planned to pursue a bachelor’s degree, but at that time, she had difficulty transferring her Carl Albert credits, so she did not get far.
Still, she continued her professional growth, taking on administrative and supervisory responsibilities.
Eventually, her employers with the non-profit Western Arkansas Child Development wanted her to have a four-year degree.
At that time, UAFS was promoting its BSOL degree, and it seemed like a good fit, she said. All her credits from Carl Albert transferred when she enrolled, making her progress faster.
“I love that degree (BSOL) because it’s flexible. All my credits transferred, and I could complete it in two years. It helped me in the work I was doing at the time, and I learned that some of what I was doing was right!” she said with a laugh.
In 2016, she completed a master’s degree in early childhood at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. Two months later, she moved to Georgia to be near her daughter and grandchildren.
While she was working and going to school, Freeman realized she wanted to teach at the college level.
“I realized I had so much to give,” she said. So as she prepared to relocate, she applied to Western Georgia Technical College. She moved east with the promise of an adjunct position.
“By 2019, I was full-time faculty, and in 2021, I became the program chair-director for the early childhood program,” she said.
Now, she has been appointed to sit on Georgia’s Department Early Care and Childhood board. Georgia DECAL “is responsible for meeting the child care and early education needs of Georgia’s children and their families,” according to its website.
It is guidance “for anything that has to do with children,” Freeman said.
She believes her leadership experience, her work history, and supervision of classroom teachers prepared her for this position.
“Think about the way a house is built,” she said. “First you have the foundation; it has to be strong and sturdy.”
The BSOL is an important part of her foundation, she said.
For other UAFS students and alums, Freeman has this advice: “Don’t stop. Go for your dreams and goals.”
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