Department of Child Development, Literacy and Special Education

Dr. Kelly A. Clark is an associate professor of special education in the Child Development, Literacy, and Special Education Department. She currently serves as the Director of our Mathematics Clinics within the Reich College of Education and the program director of our graduate certificate program in special education leadership.

She is a first-generation college student and has 8 years of experience as a special education teacher for children with mild, moderate, and severe intellectual disabilities, multiple disabilities, autism, learning disabilities, and emotional and behavioral disorders. These experiences created the foundation for her advocacy and support for special education teacher preparation and inclusive special education. She is certified in middle grades mathematics and both general and adapted curriculum for special education. Additionally, she holds curriculum and instruction and principal licenses in North Carolina. Her Ph.D. in special education focused on improving transition planning, programming, and services for students with disabilities as they transition to life after high school, with a special emphasis on preparing them for employment.

Prior to working at Appalachian State, she worked at the K. Lisa Yang Hock E. Tan Center on Employment and Disability at Cornell University, where she taught Disability Law in the ILR School Disability Studies program and led the Transition and Education grant programs. Within that work, she worked closely with the New York State Department of Education to provide training and support across all five regions of New York State and all five boroughs of New York City.

She is a member of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), Teacher Education Division (TED), Division on Career Development and Transition (DCDT), and Division for Autism and Developmental Disabilities (DADD). She serves as the Co-CAN Coordinator for NC CEC and the president of NC TASH (an international disability advocacy organization). She also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Case Learning for Exceptional Learners (JCLEL).

She has been recognized for her work, receiving the college’s Outstanding Scholarship/Creative Achievement Award in 2024, the Outstanding Advocacy for Student Success Award in 2025, and the Community of Practice Award with her colleagues for their work on the Department of Labor Grant in 2026. She and her colleagues were awarded a Department of Labor grant through the Workforce Opportunities in Rural Communities initiative. As Co-PI on the project, she is helping lead efforts to expand pathways into the special education workforce and improve working conditions for special education teachers.

Dr. Clark earned her B.S. at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she was a student-athlete; M.S.A. at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte; and Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  

She enjoys reading, music, hiking, raising chickens, and enjoying the outdoors with her partner and children.

Kelly Clark’s Curriculum Vitae