Noelle Witherspoon Arnold: UCEA EC 2012 Candidate Interview

UCEA Headquarters doctoral student Amy Reynolds interviews Executive Committee candidate Dr. Noelle Witherspoon Arnold.

Candidate bio: Dr. Noelle Witherspoon Arnold is an Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator of PK-12 Educational Leadership in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri-Columbia.   Dr. Arnold also currently serves as consultant throughout the US advising districts in analyzing data for school improvement, cultural mediation and pedagogy, STEM leadership. Noelle has numerous publications in respected journals. Dr. Arnold is currently an EC member for UCEA, Secretary/Treasurer of the AERA Leadership for Social Justice SIG, and Assistant Editor of the International Journal of Leadership in Education. She is currently exploring the role of urban principals in health advocacy and the founding of school clinics. 

Since 2007, Noelle has served in several capacities for UCEA.  Noelle served as 2010 UCEA Annual Convention Co-Chair (with Tom Alsbury). She is proud to have been a Jackson Scholar and continues to serve as a Jackson Scholar Mentor. Noelle has been invited three times to serve a panel member for panels on publishing and scholarship and graduate student involvement. Noelle has also served as Plenum Session Representative at Louisiana State University (her former institution) and she has been elected by the faculty at The University of Missouri-Columbia to serve as PSR. Currently, Noelle is serving on the UCEA Executive Committee after being elected last fall. She hopes to continue contributing to UCEA’s work by exploring opportunities for advocacy and social justice. In addition to these efforts, Noelle is particularly passionate in advocating for scholars and principals of color by expanding the notion of diversity to the creation of spaces and places that are “ready” for these principals.