Future Focused
Linking Industry & Education
Future Focused
Linking Industry & Education
Room 212
InnevAto EDU courses are being used as a tool to enable students to pursue career tech pathways, either through credit recovery or to enable flexibility to alternate one week in the field and one week on academics.
Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Dr. Ward was a child of immigrants from Ireland and first generation college student. She holds a BS in Psychology/Biology (1988) and a MS in Clinical Behavioral Psychology (1990) from Eastern Michigan University and a Ph.D. in Educational Services and Research (1994) from The Ohio State University (Emphasis in Educational Leadership, Special Education and Applied Behavior Analysis).
Dr. Ward has over 30 years experience working with individuals’ preschool through adulthood identified as at-risk and/or with disabilities. Since 2014 Dr. Ward has served as the Superintendent of Fairfield County Educational Service Center in Central Ohio. She has served as Superintendent in Residence at the Ohio State University since 2019. In addition she serves in a leadership capacity on several local and State boards including: Council for Family & Children First, Buckeye Association of School Administrators and the Ohio Association of Educational Service Center.
Prior to returning to Central Ohio in 1999 to become the Director of Alternative Education Programming at the Delaware-Union Educational Service Center she spent five years as the Director of Disability Services and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has dozen publications, over 75 state, national and international presentations, and has secured more than 50 million in grant funding. Her interest areas include: educational equity, alternative learning options for students, at-risk youth, school improvement, family and civic engagement, and school-community partnership development.
Jennifer Sayre is the Director of Applied Technology at the Fairfield County Educational Service Center in Ohio. In this role, she leads the InnevAto EDU student program that offers online high school courses aligned with Quality-Matters standards. She has extensive experience in teaching, online instruction, and leadership in education.
Jennifer served in various roles for 20 years at Hilliard City School District where she was part of the creation of the district’s Online Academy. She has been recognized for her contributions with several awards, including the Battelle for Kids Celebrate Teaching Distinguished Educator Award. She is a certified K-12 Course Reviewer and Facilitator for Quality Matters, and serves as the lead for the consortium in Ohio.
Jennifer is also an experienced writer and presenter, with articles published and presentations given on best practices for online and blended learning course design and delivery. She holds a BS in Communications Education from Kent State University, an MA in Teaching and Learning from Marygrove College, and an MA in Educational Leadership from American College of Education.
