Science Teacher Turned Assistant Superintendent
Being awarded North Carolina Teacher of the Year at age 26 was the turning point that launched Dixie Abernathy, Ed.D., into a fulfilling career as an educational leader. Now, as the director of the Master of Arts in Educational Leadership program at Queens, she is leveraging her expertise from years of professional experience to shape the next generation of leaders across school districts everywhere.
“I planned on teaching for the rest of my life until a little twist of fate when I was selected as my school system’s Teacher of the Year, which came with a $1,000 prize that had to be spent on professional development,” said Abernathy. “It was then that I decided to go back to school to get my master’s in school leadership and made the shift to become a principal.”
Her time as the assistant superintendent of Gaston County schools laid the groundwork for understanding what educators needed to learn and experience to become effective school leaders. She saw working at Queens as a “dream job” but never intended to leave the public education system until an unexpected opportunity arose.
Abernathy saw a full-time assistant professor position posted within the Cato School of Education and she jumped at the opportunity. Shortly after being hired for the role, Abernathy was promoted to program director and was tasked with enhancing an already unique curriculum. Under her leadership in recent years, the program has adopted an emphasis on experiential learning that equips students to become engaged leaders in their school systems.
“The Queens MEL program has recently introduced online simulations built into each course which tackle current topics in education and realistic challenges for school leaders,” Abernathy explained. “Candidates work their way through problematic situations, choosing their own pathway to resolution while making critical decisions along the way with each new tidbit of information. This type of learning makes the MEL program at Queens stand out compared to others.”
Abernathy’s time at Queens has also allowed her to contribute one of her proudest achievements to date, a series of research projects in partnership with two of her colleagues, that has resulted in three published handbooks that discuss online classrooms and the impact COVID has had on students.
“There’s something very special about Queens,” she said. “I used to love teaching on-campus graduate courses here because I loved coming to the campus. There was just something sort of magical about it. I always thought if there was a dream job out there for me, it would be working at Queens University of Charlotte.”
Learn more about our Master of Arts in Educational Leadership and other programs by visiting the Graduate School webpage.