In the News

Thomas has been named Principal of the Nashville School of the Arts

May 24, 2022 - A graduate of Union's Doctor of Education program, Dr. Justin Thomas has been named as Executive Principal of the Nashville School of the Arts in Metro Nashville Public Schools. Dr. Thomas has proudly served for 7 years as the principal of Nannie Berry Elementary School in Sumner County, which has been recognized for 3 consecutive years as a Reward School by the Tennessee Department of Education. Dr. Thomas began his career as a high school/middle school band director. His passion for the Arts and his drive to pursue school wide excellence will be central to his leadership as he begins his role as Executive Principal at the Nashville School of the Arts.

Fisher has been named Principal of the Germantown Online Learning Academy (GOAL)

June 11, 2021 - A graduate of Union's Doctor of Education program, Dr. Heather Fisher has been named as the first Principal of the Germantown Online Learning Academy (GOAL). As the first stand-alone virtual school in GMSD, GOAL will provide an additional choice for learning for families in Germantown.

Kee named as the superintendent of Huntindon's school system

April 16, 2021 - A graduate of Union's Doctor of Education program, Dr. Jonathan Kee has been named as the superintendent of Huntindon's school system. Dr. Kee is originally from Huntingdon where he was raised, educated, and played sports. After completing his undergraduate degree at Union, Dr. Kee returned to his hometown where he's been a teacher, coach, principal, and now superintendent. We are very excited for Dr. Kee and wish him the best in his new role.

EPP Earns Accreditation

March 15, 2021 - In a community of educators, the term 'accreditation' often elicits varying reactions. Many view the accreditation process as an additional burden placed on an already demanding, accountability-driven profession. Others view accreditation as a necessary evil that is to be endured and promptly placed on a shelf until the next scheduled review. At Union, we view accreditation as an opportunity to evaluate our effectiveness and to identify ways to improve our offerings to our students.

The Educator Preparation Program at Union University has a longstanding commitment to excellence. The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) first approved Union's Professional Education Unit at both the initial and advanced levels in 2000. This national accreditation supported the unit's state approval that has stood since the mid-1950's. The Educator Preparation Program remained accredited as a legacy NCATE institution through November 2020, when it achieved reaccreditation at the initial and advanced levels through the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP). This accrediting body was created via the merger of NCATE and the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) in 2013. CAEP is well known for its rigorous standards, and the organization is currently the only accrediting body in the field recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

To earn accreditation from CAEP, the Educator Preparation Program faculty engaged in a reflective self-study of all initial and advanced licensure programs. Trained peer reviewers evaluated all of the evidence submitted from the study and engaged with Union University in one of the first virtual site visits offered by CAEP at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the site visit, the review team submitted their final report to CAEP's Accreditation Council, and our Educator Preparation Program later received official "full reaccreditation" status. We attribute the success of this endeavor to our excellent candidates, completers, faculty, and local education agency partners. As a result of this decision, our EPP candidates can feel confident that the preparation they receive in our programs will continue to be designed with the University's core values in mind. We pledge to remain excellence-driven, Christ-centered, people-focused, and future-directed.

Innovative uses of Zoom to extend student learning

April 1, 2020 - Brittney Allen is Jackson Union student who was recently spotlighted on her school's Facebook page. She's using what she's learned from the Union SOE about Zoom to extend the learning of her students. Kudos, Brittney!

Recognizing and addressing a digital divide means doing so for teachers and students

March 29, 2020 - Brian Ingram, a doctoral student on Union's Germantown campus, is a first-year principal trying to turn around a struggling elementary school. The article includes an animated video lesson he created for his kids. What an example of instructional leadership! Note his use of the term corona slide. We're giving him credit for coining it!