My name is Dr. Josh Valk and I am the Owner, President, and CEO of Select Academics. I am an Associate Provost at an online higher education institution. In my position I have direct oversight for the School of Business, School of Accounting, School of Graphic Arts, and the General Education department. I also oversee student IT support, the tutoring center, and the writing center. I stay busy!
I was born and raised in Boston, MA, moved to Houston, TX in 2004, moved to Boise, ID in 2016, and moved to Salt Lake City, UT in March to take on this new position. I have been in school FOREVER. I received my Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Master of Science in Psychology from the University of Phoenix in 2010 and 2012, my MBA from Texas A&M University – Commerce in 2014, and my Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Higher Education Administration, also from the University of Phoenix, in 2017. Presently, I am finishing up a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics at Indiana University – East that will be completed in 2020, an Associate of Arts in History at the College of Western Idaho with an expected graduation date of 2020, an Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts at the College of Western Idaho with an expected graduation date of 2020, and a Master of Science in Information Systems at Independence University with an expected graduation date of 2020.
The majority of my career was spent in sales management, with responsibilities for teams of up to 200 and sales of up to $600 million. Between 2010 and 2012, I worked as a math interventionist for grades 6-8 and later as a campus director for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant in Waller ISD in Waller, TX. I started my own company, Aspire Coaching, LLC, in early 2017, which started as an academic tutoring operation, and evolved to add test prep (specifically the ACT and SAT). I closed Aspire Coaching, LLC August, 2019. In September, 2019, I launched my new company, Select Academics, LLC. My new company focuses mainly on ACT and SAT prep but also offers some tutoring. With the world basically shut down my business has ground to a halt, but it should pick up again. In addition to my duties at my university, I served as an adjunct professor of business and psychology at the College of Western Idaho prior to my relocation. I will begin teaching doctoral classes at another online higher education institution next month.
My hobbies include competing in mud runs and obstacle course races, reading (especially Stephen King), writing, baseball, football, MMA, politics, power lifting, and video games (I am a HUGE video game nerd). I also train in Muay Thai. I am also very active politically and extremely conservative. I have been married to my wife Monica since 2007, and we have three little girls: Skylar (age 12), Mikaela (age 11), and Summer (age 10).
