Dr. Cahndice Matthews, assistant professor of education at Clarion University, has completed the Institute for Educational Management and Leadership training sponsored by Pennsylvania Black Conference on Higher Education and Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
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| Dr. Brenda Dédé (left), associate vice president for academic affairs at Clarion and a member of Pennsylvania Black Conference on Higher Education, presents a certificate of completion for the year-long Institute for Educational Management and Leadership training to Dr. Cahndice Matthews, associate professor of education. |
The year-long institute, from February 2013 to February 2014, consisted of four face-to-face sessions covering effective leadership, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence and leadership, effective communication, ethics, financial matters, double standards, professional development and the search process; as well as mentoring, reading assignments, resource networking, role playing sessions and a final project. Matthews’ final project included an oral presentation that demonstrated how she would use what was learned to advance her professional career at Clarion University in the next five years.
"The IEML is designed to prepare junior faculty and young professionals for advancement in their professional careers,” said Dr. Brenda Dédé, associate vice president for academic affairs at Clarion and a member of PBCOHE. “Specifically, we hope to train more minorities to move into administrative and upper management positions in the higher education arena."
The IEML experience also included a joint presentation in November by the participants at the PBCOHE Annual Student Leadership Development Institute. The group, along with the IEML coordinator and committee, presented to about 350 students on appropriate attire for success.
“What I found most valuable was the mentoring from veteran faculty and administrators from across the state and the networking opportunities it presented,” Matthews said.
Matthews was recommended for the IEML by Dr. John T. Groves, former dean of the College of Education and Human Services.
A native of Jefferson, Texas, Matthews first came to Clarion in 2004 as a Frederick Douglass Summer Dissertation Scholar. She returned to Pennsylvania in 2008 as a post-doctoral scholar at Edinboro University. She has been teaching at Clarion since 2008.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Teaching from San Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas; a Master of Science from Texas A&M University, Texarkana; and a doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg.
Matthews lives in Clarion with her son, David, a junior theatre major at Clarion University.