2008 Statewide Candidate Profiles

President - Candidate Sheri Strickland

Currently serving as vice president of the Association, Sheri Strickland has been an educator for 31 years. On the local level, she held the positions of president, membership chair and canvassing chair. On the state level, she is a member of the NCAE Board of Directors and the Finance and Personnel Committee. She has served as NEA director, NEA alternate director and on the Family/School/Community Partnership Cadre on the national level.

“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve as NCAE vice president. It has been an honor to be part of the NCAE leadership team and to have the opportunity to do the important work of the Association. My term has been filled with wonderful experiences, as well as growth-producing challenges that I will carry with me as I pursue the office of NCAE president.

It has also been my privilege during my term to work with and learn from our current NCAE president, Eddie Davis. His love for NCAE and its members has been inspiring and contagious. It is in large part because of Eddie’s mentoring and guidance that I feel ready to assume the next level of leadership in NCAE.

NCAE has a long and proud history of turning our collective passion and heart for serving children into advocacy for public education across our state. It is the collective voice and actions of our members that allows us to advance our mission and to be the most effective advocate for public education in our state. I believe that it is only through the full participation of all of our members that we can truly realize the full potential of NCAE to make a difference for the children and public school educators in North Carolina. We must continue to recruit new members and to train and empower all of our members to fulfill the mission of NCAE. I am dedicated to growing and empowering our membership, and I am committed to reaching out to more potential members at all levels of the education workforce.

I am asking for your support and for your vote, and I am asking that you join with me to ensure that NCAE is the true voice for public education in North Carolina.”

Vice President - Candidates Dawn Shephard Pope and Rodney Ellis, Sr.

Dawn Shephard Pope

Dawn Shephard Pope is a classroom teacher at Sanderson High School. She has been a member of NCAE for nine years. Her local experience with Wake NCAE includes currently serving as an association rep, and serving on the Wake Executive Committee and as vice president. On the state level, she is an NEA director, was chair of the N.C. Foundation for Public School Children and was a member of the NCAE Government Relations Commission. Pope is a member of the NEA Board of Directors, is a member of the NEA Legislative committee, and has served as a constituent liaison on the NEA Executive Committee on the national level.

“Thank you, members of NCAE, for allowing me to serve as an NEA director. I am humbled and grateful for your support and the confidence that you have bestowed upon me. Over the last decade, my involvement with our association has allowed me to develop effective leadership skills, both within and outside of the classroom. In addition, my business background has taught me how to best manage operations and resources which are used to make certain our association provides the best delivery of programs to our members.

During my service from local to international levels, I have worked to ensure high student achievement and quality personal and professional development opportunities for all employees. In an effort to make schools great for all students, as outlined by our association’s positive agenda, I have advocated alongside many of you to promote non-partisan, grassroots political involvement. While doing so, I have always been committed to building strong community coalitions and partnerships.

Throughout these experiences I have met with thousands of members within North Carolina, across all 50 states and six countries. I have seen firsthand the selfless, creative and dedicated members who serve in our schools and higher education institutions. It has been a privilege to be a part of a team that makes a positive difference in the lives of so many – a team that advocates for members, students and strives to enhance the education profession and advance public education.

It would be my honor to serve as NCAE vice president and to work with members from all constituencies to achieve our association’s noble vision and mission. I look forward to the challenge and I salute you for all that you do on behalf of students and public education.”

Rodney Ellis, Sr.

Rodney N. Ellis Sr. has been an active NCAE leader for 13 years. At the local level, he served as president of the SNCAE chapter at Winston-Salem State University, held the position of vice president of the Forsyth County Association of Educators (FCAE), and served two consecutive terms as president of FCAE. Currently, he is Cluster 2 district director on the NCAE Board, serves as a member of the NCAE Government Relations Committee, and is serving his second term on the NCAE Finance and Personnel Committee. His national experience includes representing NCAE at the NEA National Council of Staff Development, and participating in the NEA President’s Training and NEA Family School Community Partnership Training.

“Many state leaders have shared in my experiences as a leader in NCAE and have come to appreciate what we bring to this association, both collectively and as individuals. Together we represent the past, present and future of this great association. We make an awesome team of colleagues and that’s what makes me ‘Proud to be NCAE!’

I’d like to share with you the strengths I believe I bring to leadership positions in NCAE.

• 1) Innovative Thinking: While fulfilling my duties as president of FCAE, I am proud to have shown innovative thinking in developing strategies to improve communications, increase membership, provide service to our members, collaborate with local leadership to improve working conditions, and promote the cultivation of future leaders within the association.
• 2) Action: I am action-oriented! I am always first among those to support NCAE initiatives, first among those to advocate for educators, and first among those to put in the physical work needed to achieve NCAE objectives. I tend to be about it more than talk about it! As Queen Gertrude says to Polonius in Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet,’ ‘More matter, less art.’
• 3) Proven Leadership: I am a tested leader! I bring proven capabilities to the association, having held leadership positions since becoming a member of the student program, and having taken advantage of the opportunities provided by NEA and NCAE to develop the skills necessary to become an effective leader.

My experiences have taught me that leadership is not about moving forward with personal agendas, but about moving forward the agenda of those we represent. I understand that to lead is to listen, facilitate, organize and act upon the directives of our membership. I believe with that understanding, supported by experience, training, commitment and dedication, I am prepared to be the next vice president of NCAE.”

NEA Director - Candidate Susan Martin

A long-time member of the Association, Susan Martin currently serves as an NEA director on the NCAE Board of Directors. She has held the positions of president, vice president and PR&R member within the Alamance-Burlington Association of Educators. Her experience on the state level includes 4-A district director, chair of Future Teachers of America and central regional director of the N.C. Teacher Cadet Program. On the national level she has served as vice chair of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Leadership Conference (MARLC) and as a member of the Associate Membership Committee. Martin teaches at Grove Park Elementary School in Alamance County.

“I want to take this time to thank you for allowing me to serve as one of your NEA directors. I have learned so much working with both the NEA Board and the NCAE Board. In my initial campaign, I set goals that I wanted to accomplish. I am pleased to say that with the help of the NEA and NCAE leadership, my goal for increasing FTA chapters is coming to fruition. North Carolina will be holding the first ever National Future Teachers Conference in February.

Another goal I worked toward is making NEA more aware of the differences and similarities of non-bargaining states to the many bargaining states. While there is still work to be done, I can say the awareness is becoming more evident at the national level. I feel that with the new NEA leadership coming on board in July, this will become a truly attainable goal.

Serving on the Associate Membership Committee with Dennis Van Roekel has given me the opportunity to share North Carolina’s visions and goals.

As vice chair for the MARLC, I’m making a ‘to do’ list for the job NCAE has ahead in hosting the conference next year.

I ask for your support in seeking my final term as NEA director. There is still much I would like to accomplish and hope that you will see fit to allow me the privilege to represent North Carolina.”