Title: Associate Director, Principals Center, in the College of Education
Family: Husband of 38 years, son Nathan, daughter Hillary, daughter-in-law Vicki, granddaughter Taylor (8), grandson Sawyer(5) and sister Marty Farnsworth Riche - my small nuclear family.
How long have you worked at Georgia State? 9 years one month with hopes for many more. : -)
What do you do on a typical day? I'm usually preparing in some way for one of our professional development programs to support K-12 school leaders - principals, assistant principals, teacher leaders and aspiring leaders. That might include researching potential presenters, putting them on the calendar, creating marketing materials, sending those materials to 3000 educators statewide, persuading school system leaders to support attendance in our programs, attending and evaluating the sessions, providing participants with documentation on their participation and making friends for the Center. On a normal year we will host over 1,000 participants somewhere in Georgia in professional development programs.
What's your background? For this job I'll mention a few: I've marketed an architect, been a policy analyst, a fund raiser, grantor and grantee, administrator/executive director, research assistant and program developer. I have a master's in public administration from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies and have been a participant in the world of K-12 education in Georgia for over 25 years.
What do you do when you're not working? I enjoy family time, time with my four women's groups, volunteering in the community on boards, British mysteries on TV, reading novels and non-fiction and collecting (viewing) operas which is a new passion. I'm up to 60+ on my opera list without counting multiple performances of the same ones.
What's your favorite thing in your office? It's hard to choose from the octopus mobile my granddaughter made me, the 6 -year-old cactus that blooms--my first ever plant to do that-- and the very large window that reminds me there is a world outside Georgia State.
What don't people know about you? As a lifelong marketer, I can't resist this opportunity to give a plug for something great at Georgia State while answering your question! I have been interviewed and transcribed for the Women's Rights Series in the Special Collections at the Georgia State University Library. There is more information about me there than anyone but my family could be interested in but to me it is a great honor to be among wonderful women who have made history here in Georgia.
If you weren't working at Georgia State, what would your ideal job be? My ideal job would be executive director of a foundation (that still has money). There is a lot of responsibility in that role but a wonderful opportunity to help communities in systemic and thoughtful ways.