I am a native of South Carolina and spent my K-12 professional career in School District Five of Lexington and Richland Counties in the suburbs or Columbia. I was employed at Irmo High School as an English and Journalism teacher for 11 years. For four of those years, I also served as a department chair. I spent three years as Assistant Principal for Curriculum and Instruction at the school. While finishing my doctorate, I worked in the central office as Language Arts Coordinator K-12 and then went back to Irmo High School where I served as the district’s first female high school principal.
I came to Western in 1996 and have coordinated the Master of School Administration Program and the Principal Fellows until moving into the role of Department Head in Fall 2004. In the Fall of 2005, I was named Interim Director of the Coulter Faculty Center and then Director. After five years in this position, I moved to the Division of Information Technology to assume the role of Director of Academic Engagement and IT Governance, and then Assistant CIO. After 19 years at Western Carolina University, I retired as professor emeritus in the department of Human Services.
I chose to come to Western because I have been in the education profession for 35 years and I was attracted by the emphasis on teaching at this university. In addition, I love the fact that Western traces its roots to its beginning as a teacher’s college.
- Degrees: B.A., Columbia College; MaEd., University of South Carolina; Ph.D., University of South Carolina
- I have published three books: Leave No Angry Child Behind: The ABC’s of Anger Management for Grades K-12 with Kathy Cooper, The SocialConstruction of Educational Leadership: Southern Appalachian Ceilings with Penny Smith, andSpeak Softly and Carry Your Own Gym Key; A Female High School Principal’s Guide to Survival
- My research interests are Women in Educational Leadership; The Social Construction of Educational Leadership; The Impact of Race, Gender, and Geography on the Selection and Behavior of Educational Leaders, the Pedagogy of Online Teaching
- I am married to Dr. John W. McFadden, Jr., Professor Emeritus at Western Carolina University
- I have three children and three step-children as well as two grandchildren and 7 step- grandchildren
- I enjoy reading, particularly regional fiction as well as cruising, especially to Bermuda and the Southern Caribbean.
