College of Education welcomes Cates as Director for Accreditation and Assessment
September 18, 2018 – Union University’s College of Education has a new Director for Accreditation and Assessment. Mandy Cates is now serving in this role, while also holding faculty status as an Assistant Professor of Education. Prior to coming to Union, Cates served for 17 years as a teacher and administrator in Haywood County Schools in Brownsville, TN. She taught 5th and 6th grades, served as an instructional coach, and spent four years as an assistant principal during her tenure in Haywood County.
Mandy Cates is a native of Jackson and has resided in Jackson her entire life. She has a passion for facilitating the continuous growth of teachers, as she sees teachers as the single most important factor in student learning. In the summer of 2015, 2016, and 2017, Cates served as a TEAM trainer for the Tennessee Department of Education. In 2017, she served on the state’s Educator Effectiveness Advisory Council regarding the ongoing implementation of the teacher evaluation model. Cates see evaluation, when conduced equitably and credibly, as a powerful tool in the ongoing improvement of student learning and achievement.
Cates is pleased to now be serving in Union’s College of Education. She states, “The opportunity to serve at Union University is the fulfillment of a long-held dream. Union most assuredly shaped me into the person I am today, and I am honored to invest in the lives of future educators through my work in the School of Education. Returning to Union has been a homecoming of the best kind, and I am so grateful that God called me to this new role.”
Cates holds an M.A.Ed. from Bethel University and a B.S. from Union University. To learn more about the College of Education at Union University, please visit: http://www.uu.edu/academics/colleges/education/.
