On Monday, April 20, the Women's Professional Network will elect five new members to serve on the Advisory Board. Before you cast your votes, be sure to read the candidate statements below.
Angela Chatman
I am extremely honored and excited to be nominated as a candidate for the Women’s Professional Network board. For the last five years, I have worked within the Division of Community and Government Affairs. I started as the Confidential Assistant to the Vice President and within three years, I was promoted to the position of Community Coordinator. As a result of my roles and duties, I have experience in research and planning, community outreach and networking, managing internal and external events, and a bevy of other beneficial skills.
Currently, I am a member of the Trenton Health Team Advisory (Public Advisory Committee), Capital City Community Coalition (Community Organization), Capital City Youth Violence Coalition (CCYVC) Youth Engagement Working Group, Trenton Area Stakeholders (Public Advisory Committee), and the New Jersey Black Issues Convention (Steering and Planning Committee).
I have planned a multitude of events, most recently “Thriving in Today’s Society: Leadership, Advocacy and Empowerment for Men”, “Beyond The Glass Ceiling” Women’s Summit, “Girl Get It Together” Female Youth Summit, New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA) Legislative Conference and several Legislative tours at Thomas Edison State University.
I have a sincere passion and enthusiasm for meeting new people and building relationships. In my current role, I am a liaison between the university and the community. In my position, it’s imperative to convey how the university can assist and provide support to local non-profits and other area organizations.
Through tandem efforts such as hosting fairs and effectively promoting educational opportunities, we can expand the scope of our reach. Ultimately, my goals for TESU are to create safe, mission driven, diverse opportunities that will continue engaging and exploring the city of Trenton and its community of residents, non-profits and businesses. If elected to the board, my experience, motivation and innovation will add to the future development of the Woman’s Professional Network. Thank you for the opportunity and I look forward to working with you.
Melissa Cryan
I’m excited to accept my nomination to the WPN advisory board. Throughout my 12 years at the university, I’ve had the opportunity to represent human resources in a variety of ways which has allowed me the ability to get to know the staff of the library and university in a unique personal and professional way. I’m confident my experience with the staff will also bring great value to the WPN at Thomas Edison. Professionally, I am always looking for ways that not only help myself grow, but grow our organizations as well. A huge aspect of my position has been to empower employees, boost morale, encourage positivity, collaborate with staff and external stakeholders and support initiatives both large and small. I believe these factors are all key initiatives that also serve the WPN. I look forward to bringing my creative ideas to the group if elected.
Regina Fitzpatrick
As an active member of the WPN’s Program Committee, I love to connect with WPN members and build useful and interesting programs for our group. I believe the quality of WPN programming is excellent and I’m thrilled to see many of our members attending our offered programs.
Professionally, I spend a lot of time promoting and highlighting the Genealogy Collection at the State Library through genealogy classes offered for audiences around the state. A number of researchers who come in to use the Genealogy Collection have told me that they had not known about the State Library at all until they attended one of my programs!
My outreach work experience will be put to good use as a WPN Advisory Board Member. I’m excited to market our programs and services to the TESU and NJSL community, to make connections with potential and current members, and encourage enthusiastic membership engagement.
Jennifer Montone
Thank you for the nomination and opportunity to introduce myself. My journey at the University began in 2002 as the secretarial assistant in Facilities & Operations, formerly Administrative Services. After transferring my AS in Liberal Arts & Sciences from Burlington County College, I was on my way to earning a BA in Psychology, and an MS in Management with a graduate certificate in Organizational Leadership from TESC (now TESU).
While navigating my educational and career paths, I’ve enjoyed the pleasure of being a proud hockey mom to my two sons, Travis (19) and Zachary (16), and love raising them along with my husband Fred, who I’ve shared life with for the past 27 years. As a civic-minded life-long Burlington City resident, giving back to my community has always been a priority. I’ve supported the City as a coach, board member of the athletic association, ran for a position on City Council, and served the police department on the Domestic Violence Response Team. I am currently finishing up my 12th year on the City of Burlington Board of Education, serving as President for the past several years, while also holding positions at the County and State levels.
I would be honored to serve on the Advisory Board of the WPN. Empowering others by focusing on effective leadership is an ongoing goal of mine, and I can’t think of any better way to achieve this than working alongside, and on behalf of, the strong women that make up the TESU/NJSL family.
Samantha M. Rhein
Hello, my name is Samantha Rhein and I am the Program Assistant for Mentors Administration. I have been with the University for almost 4 ½ years now and have been a member of the WPN since I started here. I have lived in Pennsylvania my whole life and graduated with my BA in Criminal Justice from Neumann University. I also am on my 8th year as a CCD teacher for the 5th grade.
I joined the WPN to get familiar with the University as well as to form bonds with my fellow female co-workers. Leadership positions have always been something I have gravitated towards since I was a child. I love being in a position to make positive changes for others and to use a leadership role to express my creativity. Over the years, I have taken control of my health and that has become a major drive in my life. I love that we have different health-driven gatherings like our yoga programs throughout the year. I would love to have more of those programs come about for our members, as well as a way to draw new members in.
If you know me, you know I am an outspoken person by nature and want to make sure I am doing my best to advocate for each member regardless of who they are. I promise that I will make it my mission to bring new ideas in and execute them. I thank you for your consideration and be safe!
Christina Wilson
My name is Christina Wilson and I currently work in the Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT) as an Instructional Designer.
I am interested in serving on the Advisory Board for the Women’s Professional Network (WPN) of Thomas Edison State University because I believe I can contribute to WPN’s mission of creating an educational, social, and professional climate in which women’s voices are heard and included in efforts to shape the institutional and public agenda of higher education.
Prior to joining Thomas Edison State University, I worked in several organizations of higher education. During that time, I facilitated professional networking events, professional development panel discussions, career-oriented presentations, and programs that supported women in the local community. Due to my activeness, I was asked to serve as a professional mentor for several college students to support them through their educational careers and their introduction to the workforce. My experiences allow me to act as a resource for my friends, colleagues, and family members, by providing guidance and creating networking opportunities to help them in their professional career paths.
I would love the opportunity to support WPN in program development that advances the goals of the chapter and recruit new members to continue WPN’s mission. As someone who likes to get to know my colleagues, I am excited to have the chance to work with employees from the various departments at Thomas Edison State University and The New Jersey State Library. I hope you consider voting for me.
Keep your eyes open for an email that includes the link to the online election where you can cast your votes. Voting will occur on Monday, April 20th and conclude on Monday, April 27th.
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