He is a graduate of Minneapolis Technical College. As a child of Deaf parents and a certified Interpreter for the Deaf, he has combined his life-long experience in the disabled community with his technical background to provide low tech and high tech state of the art assistive technology information and services to individuals with disabilities. Gene Dickson has worked within the South Dakota Department of Education and Cultural Affairs for 33 years. Gene was an initial member of the statewide literacy task force that founded the South Dakota Literacy effort in 1986 and has been an advocate for the volunteer literacy effort since that time. Gene holds a BA degree in Psychology from Huron College and a MS degree in Guidance and Counseling from Northern State College, as well as a valid South Dakota Teacher Certificate with endorsements as a secondary school teacher, a school psychologist, and a psychological examiner.
Gene enjoys archery, hunting and fishing along the Missouri River.
Her work experience included teaching and working as a therapist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center with children and adolescents with handicapping conditions. After receiving a Ph.D. in educational psychology, she began teaching at Creighton University, and is coordinator of programs in special education. She is also engaged in private practice at RA Neurological. Her special areas of interest include educational psychology, dyslexia, and attention deficit disorder. He served in the Australian army in Vietnam as a medic in the years 1969 1970.