Dr. Grace is currently serving as the Co-Director of the Graduate Center for the Study of Early Learning, and the Early Childhood Education Program Specialist with North Mississippi Education Consortium. Her forty-year career in early childhood education has taken her from the classroom as a first-grade teacher in rural Arkansas and Cleveland, Mississippi to the university classroom. After obtaining her Doctorate of Education at the University of Mississippi, she has served as a faculty member at Mississippi Valley State University, University of Southern Mississippi, and Mississippi State University. She has served as the early childhood coordinator at the Mississippi Department of Education, the founding director of the Family Resource Center in Tupelo, Mississippi, and as a consultant to Lift Head Start. Dr. Grace is the founding director of the Early Childhood Institute at Mississippi State University serving as the director for eleven years. She held the rank of full professor in the College of Education when she departed to serve as the national early childhood policy director for the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington, DC. Prior to accepting the position at UM, Dr. Grace served as the program director of the Gilmore Early Learning Initiative, one of the first state-funded pre-kindergarten program, for three years.
The co-author of three books and numerous research articles, Dr. Grace is considered a national expert on the education of young children living in rural areas. A former past president of the Mississippi Early Childhood Association, she has won numerous awards recognizing her leadership in education in the State.