2023 Keynote Speaker
Dr. Sonya L. Armstrong
Associate Dean for Student Success, College of Education
Professor, Graduate Program in Developmental Education
Dr. Armstrong is a practitioner-researcher with foci situated at the intersections of literacy and developmental education. Her scholarly endeavors are guided by over twenty years of designing and teaching developmental reading, integrated reading and writing, composition, and learning strategies courses in community colleges and universities. Her research focuses on improving postsecondary literacy and learning pedagogy and practice to more effectively facilitate students’ college literacy transitions, thereby increasing access and potential for success for all within higher education. She is the current Past-President of the College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA) and is a Council of Learning Assistance and Developmental Education Associations (CLADEA) National Fellow.
Dr. Paul Beaudin, Provost, Academic & Student Affairs at Northern Essex Community College.
Dr. Paul Beaudin is the Provost, Academic & Student Affairs at Northern Essex Community College. Before coming to Massachusetts, he was the Vice President of Academic & Student Affairs at Suffolk County Community College on Long Island where he served for almost seven years. With some 25,000 students, Suffolk is the largest community college in New York’s SUNY system. Before going to Suffolk, he was the Associate Dean of Arts & Sciences at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York, where he had previously been an education professor. Dr. Beaudin has also taught graduate students at Fordham University, Seton Hall University, and Manhattan College where he trained future principals and superintendents.
Before going into college work full time, Paul was a teacher, a principal, and a school superintendent in the poorest communities in New York. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Iona College and an advanced degree and doctorate from Fordham University. His work has been published by both MacMillan/McGraw Hill and Sadlier and he has spoken to groups of teachers and administrators across the country on school leadership, curriculum and instruction.