After working her way through teaching elementary school, middle school and high school, Charlsie Prosser now steps into the world of higher education in her role as assistant professor of education for the Baldwin City campus.

“I always thought when I was going to school that the teachers who I gained the most knowledge from were the professors who’d taught the grade levels that I was interested in,” Prosser said. “So I’ve been kind of preparing for a long time.”

Prosser graduated from Baker’s doctoral program in 2011 after extensively studying virtual education.

Prosser said she initially became interested in virtual education because her autistic son was not succeeding in a traditional classroom.

“I started thinking about all these other families with elementary-aged children and what some other programs were that a student could still get a good education,” Prosser said. “There wasn’t a lot of research out there on online programs for elementary-aged students so it’s been really interesting.”

While Prosser said she is an advocate for virtual education, her specialty is in teaching reading and literacy. At Baker she will also be teaching some math and science to future teachers.

“I’m not into the sit-and-get lecture type thing,” Prosser said. “I’m into everybody up, moving around, and finding how they’re actually going to use the information in their classroom.”

Regardless of what classes are thrown her way, Prosser is in for the long haul.

“I’m hoping this is it,” Prosser said. “I found my way to Baker again and I’m hoping this will be where I retire from.”