Dear Faculty and Staff,

As many of you may have already heard, Sue Offutt, Ph.D., executive director of the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership and assistant professor of Early Childhood Education, will be retiring effective December 31, 2015.

Through Sue's contributions, vision and passion for enriching the lives of young children through effective teaching, the McCormick Center has grown to be a driving force in improving the quality of early childhood education nationwide. Among her many accomplishments was directing the organization through a successful leadership transition shaping the legacy of McCormick Center's founder, Paula Jorde Bloom, into new areas of endeavor and impact. With its focus on professional development, program evaluation, research, and public awareness to help cultivate leaders, the McCormick Center has made great strides as an organization and has elevated NLU's reputation as a thought leader in this important area.

We will be working with the McCormick Center to conduct a national search to fill the Executive Director position. In the meantime, we would like to congratulate and thank Teri Talan, Ed.D., JD, for accepting the role as Interim Executive Director.

Teri is currently the Director of Policy Initiatives at the McCormick Center and Professor of Early Childhood Education in the National College of Education. She joined the McCormick Center in 2002 and the ECE faculty in 2004. She serves as a liaison between the McCormick Center and the ECE department. She currently is representing the McCormick Center and NLU, in partnership with several other national organizations, in a three-year Clinton Global Initiative commitment to close the early childhood leadership gap.  We are in good hands with Teri's experience, dedication and insight.

We would like to personally thank Sue for her dedication and contributions to the McCormick Center during the past five years and her 40 years of service to children and families. Please join me in congratulating Sue and welcoming Teri to her new role.

Best regards,

Robert D. Muller
Dean
National College of Education