The main key to successful leadership is understanding that there’s a difference between leadership training vs. leadership development. Think about it, training focuses on best practices while development focuses on next practices and encourages forward thinking. Many organizations are not thriving because they believe that training leadership is the way to go….
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Trauma has always been a mechanism that attracts immediate attention, but with the COVID-19, social unrest and political malice that has occurred with the last two years, the world was exposed to the impact that trauma has on corporations, schools, hospitals, non-profits, and families. The traumatic experiences have turned a world economy upside down and put our world in a financial crisis….
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An organization that places Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) at the forefront understands and values individual differences. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion was brought to the world stage after multiple racially motivated events within the United Stated sparked worldwide rage and anger TAP believes that having effective DEI interventions, researched based practices and a comprehensive strategic plan on DEI will be critical to organizations meeting their DEI company goals….
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There is no “I” in TEAM. Team Building is an integral piece to the success of an organization. “Teamwork is the ultimate competitive advantage because it is both so powerful and so rare. A high-functioning team can achieve its potential resulting in a more productive organization.” (The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, 2002). The key […]
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Certified Sports Counselors assist athletes in maximizing their mental and physical potential. The American Psychological Association (APA) lists sports counseling among the fastest growing specialties in counseling and psychology. Sports counselors possess specialized counseling skills to improve the wellbeing, mental functioning, and physical performance of athletes and other members of the sport community such as […]
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Many entities utilize grants to achieve a specific goal or purpose. Grants are usually awarded from a foundation, corporation, or governmental agency These grants are typically monies for a specific cause or purpose. To acquire these monies, one must apply through grant writing and submitting your application to the group awarding the grant….
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The importance of positive impactful male representation in today’s society is paramount to the development of children across the world. Fatherhood Initiatives are useful in schools, non- profits and organizations seeking to develop trainings and programs that provide insight and equity with male representation….
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For the last 20 years, Todd Pipkin has demonstrated effective educational leadership with school-turn around/start-up efforts in Charlotte, NC; Petersburg, VA; Marlboro, SC; Clarendon, SC; Surprise, AZ, and Rocky Mount, NC. He is an expert in providing schools with the transformational tools needed to improve student performance, increase teacher morale, develop effective school leadership, establish community engagement from parents/business community, and formulate an influential school culture.
Todd has effectively turned around two high-profile schools (Olympic High School and Rocky Mount Prep) in North Carolina. Both schools were slated to be closed by the state. He was also instrumental in establishing two start-up schools, Willow Canyon HS in Surprise, AZ, as an Assistant Principal and Head of School of The Male Leadership Academy of Charlotte in Charlotte, NC.
A native of Pittsburgh, PA, Todd has a powerful testimony of his struggles academically in High School as several high school teachers told him “You are not college material.” He was nearly flunking out of The University of Pittsburgh, where he had received a football athletic scholarship. Todd graduated in four years and earned his master’s degree from the University of Phoenix in Educational Leadership.
Today, Todd is the Founder and CEO of TAP Expert Educational Consortium. He witnessed the lack of effective leadership from those leading schools, organizations, and nonprofits. TAP was organically grown to have experts in their field of concentration be part of collaborating consortium that would provide comprehensive service for schools and organizations worldwide. Todd displays a commitment to himself and his dreams through his daily actions. TAP Expert Educational Consortium is here to change the world one person at a time, and Todd’s belief in carrying out that goal is to surround and work with those better than you!
Dr. Chance W. Lewis is the Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor of Urban Education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Additionally, Dr. Lewis is the Executive Director of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Urban Education Collaborative which is publishing a new generation of research on improving urban schools.
Dr. Lewis received his B.S. and M.Ed. in Business Education and Education Administration/Supervision from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Dr. Lewis completed his doctoral studies in Educational Leadership/ Teacher Education from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. Teaching Background Dr. Lewis currently teaches graduate courses in the field of Urban Education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His experiences span the range of K-12 and higher education. From 2006-2011, Dr. Lewis served as the Houston Endowed Chair and Associate Professor of Urban Education at Texas A&M University. In 2001-2006, he served as an assistant professor of teacher education at Colorado State University. During the 1994-1998, Dr. Lewis served as a Business Education teacher in East Baton Rouge Parish Schools (Baton Rouge, LA), where he earned Teacher of the Year honors in 1997.
Dr. Lewis has over 100 publications including 70+ refereed journal articles in the leading academic journals in the field of urban education. He has received over $6 million in external research funds. To date, Dr. Lewis has authored/ co-authored/co-edited 19 books: White Teachers/Diverse Classrooms: A Guide for Building Inclusive Schools, Eliminating Racism and Promoting High Expectations (Stylus, 2006); The Dilemmas of Being an African American Male in the New Millennium (Infinity, 2008); An Educator’s Guide to Working with African American Students: Strategies for Promoting Academic Success (Infinity, 2009); Transforming Teacher Education: What Went Wrong with Teacher Training and How We Can Fix It (Stylus, 2010); White Teachers/Diverse classrooms: Creating Inclusive schools, Building on Students’ Diversity and Providing True Educational Equity [2nd Ed.] (Stylus, 2011); Yes We Can!: Improving Urban Schools through Innovative Educational Reform (Information Age, 2011); African Americans in Urban Schools: Critical Issues and Solutions for Achievement (Peter Lang, 2012); Black Males in Postsecondary Education: Examining their Experiences in Diverse Institutional Contexts (Information Age, 2012); Improving Urban Schools: Equity and Access in K-16 STEM Education (Information Age, 2013); Black Male Teachers: Diversifying the United States’ Teacher Workforce (Emerald Publishing, 2013); and An Educator’s Guide to Working with African American Students: Strategies for Promoting Academic Success [2nd Edition] (LEC Press, 2013); African American Male Students in PreK-12 Contexts: Implications for Research, Policy & Practice (Emerald, 2014); Teacher Education & Black Communities: Implications for Access, Equity and Achievement (Information Age, 2014); Autoethnography as a Lighthouse: Illuminating Race, Research and the Politics of Schooling (Information Age, 2015); Priorities of the Professoriate: Engaging Multiple Forms of Scholarship across Rural and Urban Institutions (Information Age, 2015); High School to College Research Studies (University Press of America, 2015); Reaching the Mountaintop of the Academy: Personal Narratives, Advice and Strategies from Black Distinguished and Endowed Professors (Information Age, 2015); An Educator’s Guide to Working with African American Students [3rd Edition] (LEC Press, 2016); lack Female Teachers: Diversifying the United States’ Teacher Workforce (Emerald, 2017)
Dr. Lewis has provided consultative services focused on school turnaround to over 100 school districts, universities, educational entities and other organizations across the United States and Canada. Dr. Lewis can be reached by e-mail chance.lewis@gmail.com. You can visit Dr. Lewis on the web at http://www.chancewlewis.com. Dr. Lewis is married to Mechael Lewis and has two daughters Myra (14) and Sydney Lewis (10).
Born in Pittsburgh, PA., Dr. Alexander attended the California University of Pennsylvania, earning her B.S. in Education and a 7-12 Social Science certification. She earned her master’s degree in education (MS. Ed.) and a K-12 School Counseling certification from Duquesne University and returned there to earn her Ph.D. in Counseling and Supervision. Dr. Alexander’s research interests and areas of expertise focus on counseling diverse populations, trauma and trauma-centered interventions, Transgenerational Trauma, Historical Trauma, and Cultural Trauma in the Black community and other communities of color, athlete mental wellness, leadership, and team-building.
Dr. Alexander has presented at national conferences, The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), as well as for state and community organizations including the Pennsylvania Counseling Association, local universities, high schools, and for community organizations like local branches of the NAACP on diversity, transferred trauma, and the importance of mental health treatment in minority communities. Dr. Alexander has also facilitated workshops for city workers, multiple public, private, and independent schools, and nonprofit organizations. She served as president of a local NAACP branch and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. She is also a contributing author of Counseling Ethics: Philosophical and Professional Foundations (2013) and Trauma Counseling: Theories and Interventions 2nd edition (2022), Springer Publishing Company.
As a classroom teacher, Dr. Alexander garnered student-nominated awards such as Who’s Who Among American Teachers (2000 and 2002), and National Honor Roll’s Outstanding American Teachers (2005-2006). She is also a recipient of the 2021 The State of Black Learning, Black Excellence in Education Award and a 2021 New Pittsburgh Courier Women of Excellence recipient. In addition to her full-time position as a School Counselor at Penn Hills Senior High School, Dr. Alexander established her Consulting firm LegAAcy, Culturally Aware Advising, and Consulting, as a way to educate and engage people and communities of color around mental health, trauma, and equity & belonging and earned her Sports Counseling Certification in 2021. Dr. Alexander’s career spans the fields of both mental health and education, as those worlds often coalesce and overlap in myriad ways, affecting our personal and work lives and our ability to function healthily as leaders in those realms.
Dr. Alexander’s dissertation, Examining the Legacy of Transgenerational Trauma and its Effects on Contemporary African American adults in Parenting and Caregiver Roles to African American Adolescents, has been viewed, downloaded, and referenced thousands of times, including in South Africa, Kenya, Botswana, and Tanzania and is often used to guide practitioners and lay persons around the sequelae of trauma.
Dr. Alicia McCree was born and raised in Charlotte, NC, and had over 30 years of experience as an educator. As a product of Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, she graduated from Myers Park High School. Her education continued with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education from Johnson C. Smith University. After serving as a school principal in CMS for 10-years, she attained her Education Specialist degree and a Doctor of Education degree in Educational Leadership from Wingate University. She also served as principal at two local charter schools (grades K-12th). After teaching in CMS for 6-years, she became a facilitator of instruction and furthered her education with a Master’s in School Administration from UNC-Charlotte.
Principal McCree is a passionate educator who has a proven track record working in challenging schools. Her dedication to high student achievement and continuous growth drives her work ethic daily. As a result of her success, she was given Freedom and Flexibility with Accountability while serving as a principal in CMS. She has served as an educator and school leader at all grade levels (K-12). In addition to her work at the school level, she has also worked as an educational consultant, principal mentor, and classroom management trainer to teachers. Her strengths with instructional leadership and school management have positively impacted both the public and charter schools.