Marilyn E. Buchanan

Coordinator of Tennessee Early Childhood Training Alliance site at ETSU

Hi, I am the coordinator for the Tennessee Early Childhood Training Alliance (TECTA) at East Tennessee State University. My job is multifaceted. My responsibilities include teaching, coordinating, counseling, advising and supporting people who work with young children who are working toward a Child Development Associate (CDA) or a degree in early childhood. We are beginning our fifth year of training and have served over 300 early childhood teachers and directors in a nine county area of northeast Tennessee. TECTA has many goals which include providing affordable and accessable training to people who work with young children, providing support to child care centers working on NAEYC accreditation and advocating for children and the people who care for them. Do you realize that the people who care for our infants, toddlers, and preschoolers are some of the lowest paid people in the workforce?

My first love is my family, my husband, Curtis, and our daughters, Summer and Maria. My second love is working with children and early childhood teachers. I am especially interested in the inclusion of children with special needs into the regular classroom since my daughter, Summer, has Down syndrome and has been included since she was 4 years old. I enjoy traveling, reading, cooking, gardening and spending time with my family and yes, I enjoy my job and especially the people I work with. For more details about TECTA please visit the training section of our home page.

Education :

M. Ed., East Tennessee State University, May 1996

Major: Early Childhood Education

Licensure Pre-K- 3rd grade

State Certified Pre- K- 9th grade

B.S., Tennessee Technological University

Major: Elementary Education

Past Conference Presentations:

July 28, 1999. East Tennessee State University Early Childhood Conference, Johnson City, TN, "ECER/ITERS Training Session and More"

November 12, 1999. National Association for the Education of Young Children Conference, New Orleans, LA, "A recipe for improving the quality of child care: using rating scales, mentors, consultants, and community partnerships to achieve NAEYC accreditation.

September 27, 1997. Tennessee Association for the Education of Young Children (TAEYC), Gatlinburg, TN, "Inclusion: A Success Story".

October 1996. Tennessee Association for the Education of Young Children (TAEYC) Conference, Nashville. "Wood is Wonderful in the Classroom."

July 1996. ETSU Early Childhood Conference. "ETSU Graduate School Panel Discussion".

April 1994. NAEYC Annual Conference. "The Tennessee approach for statewide opportunity in early childhood education."

October, 1993. Kappa Delta Pi Regional Conference. East Tennessee State University. "Alike and Different: Celebrating Diversity".

July 1992. Early Childhood Conference, "Looking at Inclusive Education and Anti-Bias Curriculum."

Buchanan@etsu.edu