Recently, Sue Constable participated in the Antioch Doctor of Education program’s online residency. She was there in her new role as Executive Director of Education Programs for the Coalition for the Common Good, the university system recently founded by Antioch University and Otterbein University. In her commencement address to the newly minted EdDs, Constable had a chance to reflect on the importance of education in the U.S. today. “I talked to the students about how we’re constantly in the process of becoming,” she says. “Now, more than ever, we have a country—a world—where people need to come together and give each other opportunities to process ideas and experiences, without immediately being met with anger or contradiction. In particular, as educators, we have to give our students the space to shape their own beliefs.”
This belief in the importance of education and open communication has shaped Constable’s career from its earliest stages. And just this summer, she took her latest step in bringing her passion to the broadest number of students, leaving her longtime role as Professor and Chair of the Education Department at Otterbein University to come work for Antioch and the broader Coalition for the Common Good (CCG) as Executive Director of Education Programs. She describes the career jump as “scary but exciting.”
In many ways, this role is the culmination of a career of service and vision. In fact, Constable herself played a key role in early conversations between the two institutions that led to the formation of the CCG. In this newly created role, she is leveraging her background and interests to be a strong leader in this time of change for both institutions.
Focusing on the Commonality of All Learners
Constable’s background is in the classroom. This affinity for learning and teaching began when she was herself a student—and had a particular affinity for language learning. She took French courses throughout high school and after a year in Finland on a high school exchange program, she quickly picked up Finnish as well. Her interest in language, and her enthusiasm for teaching others, led to her first job as a high school French teacher. That then led to further teaching posts where she taught students at a wide range of levels, from kindergarten to high school. It was here, as a boots-on-the-ground classroom teacher, that Constable discovered her passion for nurturing literacy skills– decoding meaning, reading comprehension, and language arts as a whole.
After teaching reading and language arts for five years and realizing the layers and complexities of literacy learning, Constable decided to return to school to obtain her PhD. She ended up going to The Ohio State University, where she studied literacy, language, and cognition. Around this time, she also made the career shift from K-12 classrooms to teaching as a university-level professor. While others might have been intimidated by such a change in student age, Constable found herself noting instead the similarities between teaching K-12 students and adult learners. “It’s interesting how many things about learners are universal,” she says. “I think it all starts with the student, just understanding your students, how to connect with them—and creating a relationship that allows learning to occur.”
At Otterbein, Constable applied her real-world classroom teaching experience to her instruction of undergraduate and graduate education students, sharing both classroom pedagogies and her particular interest in literacy acquisition and instruction. The skills of reading and writing span the entire school curriculum, not just language arts, she explains. “Every teacher from kindergarten through 12th grade—no matter what they’re teaching, there’s literacy involved.”
While moving from Otterbein to this new position at Antioch initially felt like “a big change,” says Constable, “the more I learned about the Coalition–its purposes and its potential–the more I view it as a very innovative way for institutions of higher ed to survive and thrive in the current academic climate.” In a time of political divide within and beyond educational institutions, Constable sees the need to create safe and inclusive spaces where educators from all walks of life and at all points in their careers can discuss relevant pedagogies as well as controversial topics that are crucial to quality education, like banned books, and social identities. In this devotion to exploration, teaching with care, and freedom of thought, Constable carries forward an ethos that both Antioch and Otterbein have long cultivated in their classrooms and programs.
A Shared Educational Mission Unites Two Universities
“The great thing about Otterbein and Antioch is that we have very similar missions,” says Constable. “We are both committed to social justice and equitable education, so we work really well together.”
Through the Coalition, students have the opportunity to take advantage of both Antioch and Otterbein academic resources and programs. For example, Ohio-based students in any of Antioch’s Master of Education programs can continue to take advantage of Otterbein’s Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and Reading Endorsements while earning a Master’s degree through Antioch. This opportunity is reaching many current Antioch MEd students who are based in Ohio, as well as those who–with the establishment of the Coalition– have transferred from Otterbein to Antioch.
The TESOL and Reading endorsements are only a few of the many programs and certifications students across the Coalition can access. Constable says that a wide variety of programs and other offerings across Antioch’s campuses are becoming more widely available, from Seattle’s Library and Media Studies Program and its MAE programs for progressive educators, with concentrations in (for example) Leadership for Social Justice and Adult Education, to New England’s MEd programs for Experienced Educators, with concentrations in areas such as Nature-Based, and Trauma-Informed education.
Cultivating a Community of Resilient Educators
Part of Constable’s new job has been talking to school districts, teachers, and administrators throughout Central Ohio. She has found a broad need for community connection in the current political and social climate. “We’re living in a sometimes scary time, and I think it’s a difficult time for teachers,” she says. “In Ohio and other states there is legislation that is preventing teachers from being able to address key pedagogical necessities, like social and emotional learning and critical race theory.”
Despite the obstacles and frustrations teachers are facing in the classroom, Constable is heartened by the work at Antioch and throughout the Coalition for the Common Good, where connection and mutual respect are at the forefront. “What I love about this program,” she says, “is that it puts teachers in a safe space with other educators to talk about the importance of and the ways in which we can hold on to our commitment to social justice and anti-racism.”
For more information visit the program pages for Antioch’s Education programs.
