Freda Deskin is the Chief Executive Officer/Founder of the award-winning Advanced Science and Technology Education Charter (ASTEC) Schools in Oklahoma City.  ASTEC was the first start-up charter school in the state and serves nearly ASTEC 800 highly diverse, inter-city students in grades 6-12.  ASTEC was selected as the first HealthCorps school in the Central United States.

 

Dr. Deskin earned a B.A. in Elementary Education with distinction, an M.A. in Secondary Education and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Oklahoma (OU) where she was a National Collegiate Scholastic All-American.  She holds a certificate in Strategic Management from Harvard University and has completed post-graduate work in the area of Finance at Oklahoma City University (OCU).

 

As a leader in education for four decades, Dr. Deskin has taught at all levels, in every size school.  She was on faculty at the University of Oklahoma and served as a university dean at Oklahoma City University until founding ASTEC Charter Schools in 2000.  Dr. Deskin has been honored numerous times at every level for her teaching and leadership skills and for her community commitment and is a member of the Oklahoma Educator Hall of Fame and a finalist for the Brock International Prize in Education.

 

Dr. Freda Deskin has long been an innovator in education, impacting hundreds of thousands of learners. She established the "Oklahoma Odyssey of the Mind," the Oklahoma Aerospace Academy, the International Aerospace Academy, “Team Quest,” ropes and leadership programs at both OU and OCU and co-founded For Youth Initiatives (FYI) a high school dropout awareness and prevention program.

 

In 1985, Deskin was selected as a finalist in NASA's "Teacher in Space" project where she was trained as an astronaut and became one of only 100 individuals in the world with the official title of "U.S. Space Ambassador."

 

Dr. Deskin has been honored by more organizations than can be mentioned, including the Boy Scouts of America, the Girl Scouts of America and the American Institute of Architects, Women in Aerospace Hall of Fame in Washington, D.C. and the University of Oklahoma Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education’s “Career Achievement Award” her continued contribution to education.

 

In addition, a host of education and business leaders have recognized Dr. Deskin with awards and citations for her outstanding contributions. Dr. Deskin is listed in Who's Who in American Education, Who's Who in the World, Outstanding Women in American and 2000 Notable Women in the US, and the 2002 International Who’s Who of Professional Educators. She was named "Woman of the Year" for Oklahoma by the Girl Scouts and was named as one of the “50 Women Making a Difference” in Oklahoma on three occasions making her eligible for the Journal Record’s “Circle of Excellence.”  She received Frank G. Brewer Award for the Southwest Region for outstanding contributions in aerospace education, the prestigious "By-liner” award by Women in Communication, and was named by Enterprising Women magazine as “Enterprising Woman of the Year.”

 

Dr. Deskin has developed programs, curriculum guides and books for national educational organizations such as the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, NASA, the American Institute of Architects, Disney’s EPCOT Center and the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). Dr. Deskin has been featured in a number of national publications including Education Week and in various educational videos. 

 

Freda is a member of the National and State “Women President’s Organization” (WPO) and the International Women’s Forum. She is the chair of the Red Earth curriculum committee, the Annie Oakley Society at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and is an OKCEO for the Pott’s Family Foundation for Early Childhood Education.  Dr. Deskin is a graduate of Leadership Norman and Leadership Oklahoma.

 

Dr. Deskin has one son and a daughter-in-law.