She exemplifies the highest standards of service leadership in teacher education.
That’s what earned S. Nancy Gilchriest, SSND, Ed.D., associate professor of education at St. Joseph’s College, the Charles C. Mackey, Jr. Excellence in Service Leadership Award from the New York Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (NYACTE).
The award honors an educator in a leadership position in New York state who demonstrates the same qualities as Dr. Mackey did in his role as the executive coordinator of the Office of Teaching Initiatives in the New York State Department of Education: serving students first and foremost, promoting diversity, being accountable, staying on top of best practices and current research, and collaborating with others to ensure a quality education is being offered.
“As I look at the criteria for the Mackey Award, it seems to me that the five qualities listed are those to which every teacher aspires, and achievable for those teachers who are fortunate to minister with amazing students and awesome teachers,” said S. Nancy, who has worked at St. Joseph’s for 15 years and who formerly chaired the education department at the College.
Her Service to St. Joseph’s College
Throughout her time at St. Joseph’s College, S. Nancy created numerous new courses and programs to enrich the educational experience, most notably the graduate TESOL program, as well as the Educational Leadership with Critical Consciousness master’s program, which helps develop future school building and district leaders.
“I consider myself blessed to have been a part of the St. Joseph’s College community, which fostered my SSND educational values, and (I’m) fortunate to have followed in the footsteps of servant educators, such as Charles C. Mackey,” S. Nancy said.
With an extensive body of scholarship, service and leadership, S. Nancy was recently selected as provincial councilor for the Atlantic-Midwest Province of the School Sisters of Notre Dame. There, she’ll serve with five others in ministering to 380 Sisters on the east coast, in Chicago, in Canada and in England for a four-year term.
“S. Nancy has been at the forefront of advancing the College’s efforts to prepare aspiring educators for careers of excellence,” SJC President Donald R. Boomgaarden, Ph.D., said. “Her selection for this prestigious award is wonderfully apt; on behalf of the entire SJC community, I commend her on this richly deserved honor.”
