NACEP Board Honors Peggy Sadler and Ted Leahey

The NACEP Board of Directors recently granted emeritus status to long-serving members of NACEP Ted Leahey and Peggy Sadler. Leahey and Sadler witnessed sharp growth in concurrent enrollment during their careers and both were instrumental in the development of a strong national organization.

Ted Leahey
Leahey became involved in concurrent enrollment as a high school teacher at Union City Community High School in Indiana in 1986 and taught Indiana University English courses for 13 years. In 1999 when Leahey retired from teaching he was invited to join the staff at Indiana University’s concurrent enrollment program, Advance College Project (ACP). Leahey was the first Site Visitor for ACP English, and later became the director of ACP. During his time with ACP the program grew by more than 350%, from approximately 1,200 students to over 5,500 students.

Leahey’s contributions to NACEP began with helping organize the NACEP National Conference in 2000, held at Indiana University. “From that year forward,” says Leahey “I was an active member of the forming organization. I’ve been with NACEP from there, to Board Member-at-Large, all the way to emeritus status!”

For Leahey, the most significant and exciting changes in concurrent enrollment have been the growth in membership in NACEP and the increased scope of the organization, in particular “the engagement in national policy, acquiring an executive secretary, and expanding services to accredited and potential partners.”

When asked about future plans, he states “My personal plan is to remain in service to NACEP as a consultant for the organization and for programs investigating and seeking accreditation. I would like to continue in some way with the organization.” He is currently writing the instructor’s manual for two college composition textbooks and will be revising another college text in the coming year. He has also been asked to assist ACP with site visits.

Peggy Sadler
Peggy Sadler was the director of the concurrent enrollment program at Salt Lake Community College for a total of 9 years, including coordinating the fledgling program in 1990 and returning in 2000 after a number of years in another position at the college. She saw the program grow from 10 class sections serving about 300 students to 1,100 class sections serving about 10,000 students.

Sadler volunteered with NACEP starting in 2001 when she joined the communications committee after attending her first NACEP conference. In 2004 she was elected Secretary to the NACEP Board of Directors, a position she held for 4 years. She was then elected as the Board Representative for 2-year Institutions, and served 2 years.

“It has been very fulfilling to see the concurrent enrollment program at SLCC grow,” says Sadler, “and exciting to see the growth in NACEP membership. The attendance at conferences has increased to nearly 10 times the number of attendees at the 2001 conference.”

Sadler also points to the adoption of the revised standards as another important change and says “I believe the revised standards will improve the strength of concurrent enrollment everywhere.”

Sadler plans to continue to volunteer with NACEP on the Program Development Committee, and is presenting an introduction to NACEP’s standards on webinars the committee organized for the new Pre-Accreditation Coaching Program. She is also participating on the emergency volunteer committee in her community. She’s looking forward to spending more time with her five grandchildren and also plans to research her family history.

Emeritus status is awarded in recognition of outstanding professional service, upon the retirement of individuals who have been active members of the Alliance for at least five consecutive years.