Uncrowned Community Builders

Over the past 28 years, Betty P. Shadrick has held progressively responsible positions in educational institutions, community-based and state government agencies. Applying her skills in teaching, counseling, and administration, she has worked to advance the well-being of the under served, economically improvised, and aspiring pre-K, elementary and secondary youths; and undergraduate and graduate students. From her early involvement as a Teacher's Aide in the first Head Start program in her hometown of Kansas City, Missouri to her work in the educational arena and community-based activism, she has demonstrated a commitment to helping others become the best that they are capable of becoming.

Currently, she is employed as Assistant to the Associate Provost-Office of Graduate Studies for the University at Albany-State University of New York, where she has worked for 19 years. She is also an adjunct professor in the Africana Studies department where she regularly teaches a Black Religion course and has also taught the course, Psychology of the Black Experience. During the Spring, 2004 semester, in addition to teaching Black Religion, she also taught an Urban Education course for the School of Education and continues to teach in this department throughout the current academic year. Her expertise as a workshop facilitator is well-known and she has facilitated workshops locally, nationally, and internationally on diverse topics such as sisterly relations, spirituality and wellness, self empowerment, the graduate application process, effective decision-making, multicultural education, and indicators of academic success for African American college students, to name a few.

Active in the community and her church, she is a member of the Albany District Links, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.-Delta Mu Omega Chapter, where she currently serves as chapter President. She is a founding member and former Chair of the Black Faculty and Professional Staff Association at the University at Albany, a member of Albany County Civilian Review Board, Schenectady County Community College Advisory Board, Hudson Mohawk Association of Colleges and Universities, and TopFliters Golf League. She sits on WMHT-TV Board of Directors, is Board member of Two Together, an after school reading enrichment program for disadvantaged youth, and a member of the National Black Children Institute.

A member Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church, she served as President of the Women's Ministry from 1999 until December, 2003. Before affiliating with Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church, she was a member of Union Missionary Baptist Church and served as a deaconess.

Her educational preparation includes B. S. -Elementary Education from Grambling State University, and a M.S. and CAS (Certificate of Advanced Standing) in Counseling Psychology and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from the University at Albany, SUNY. She is cited in Who's Who in American, Outstanding Women of the 20 th Century, and is a recipient of the New York State Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Professional Service.

Devoted to her family, she is the wife of 34 years to Henry F. Shadrick, former Vice-President Controller and Principal Owner of Genium Publishing Corporation, and the mother of two grown sons, Erik F. and Sean F. Shadrick.