Dr. Emily Sobeck

Dr. Emily Sobeck always knew she wanted to be a teacher. As a child, she used to set up a chalkboard, arrange her stuffed animals into a class, and hold “school” in the basement.

“I was really blessed to know my vocation early on,” she says. By the time she enrolled at California University of Pennsylvania, she was eager to fulfill her dream of majoring in elementary education. Her course took an unexpected turn, though, at freshman orientation. That’s when she found out about a dual-major program through which she could become certified in both special education and elementary education at the same time.

Although Sobeck didn’t feel drawn to special education, her parents encouraged her to try the dual program. Then, in her first semester, she had a field experience that changed her life.

“I got to work with students with profound disabilities,” she says. “It was a really moving experience for me.”

One day after class, her professor, Dr. Mary Seman, pulled her aside and told Sobeck she believed she had a lot of promise in special education.

“She noticed something in me I didn’t even see in myself,” Sobeck remembers.

After graduating from college in 2007, she became a special-education teacher, first in high school, then in elementary school. While teaching, she earned a master’s degree in special education.

Then, out of the blue, Sobeck received a phone call from her graduate program advisor, Dr. Kate Mitchem: The University of Pittsburgh was accepting five doctoral candidates in special education for a fully funded program, and Mitchem thought she should apply.

After praying and thinking about it, Sobeck applied for and accepted a position in the program, earning her doctorate in special education in 2016. She has been on the faculty of Franciscan University ever since.

“I like walking beside the students,” she says, “helping them not feel stressed and helping lower the pressure they have on themselves. I get to participate in some life-changing conversations with students about where they see themselves, what their strengths are, and what I see in them, similar to what Dr. Seman did for me.”

In the classroom, Sobeck emphasizes the importance of understanding disability.

“I strive to make sure all students that cross my path become comfortable with disability, know how to talk to individuals with disabilities, and understand how to teach them.”

When classes are over, she commutes back to Pittsburgh, where she lives with her husband, Jason; their young children, Levi, Tensley, and twins Charlie and Crew; and their dog, Clyde.

“We’re an outdoorsy family,” says Sobeck, who has finished many triathlons and is an avid biker. Every summer, she leads about two dozen women on a three- to five-day biking trip along the GAP Trail, which runs from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C.

“It’s a fun ride,” she says—describing not only the trail, but motherhood, teaching, and the adventure of life.