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Biographical Information

Dr. Lynn Gaddis is currently retired and serving as a personal assistant twice a week to her grandson who is a 6^th grade Chicago Public School student in remote learning. She and her husband, Bill, of 51 years decided to move in January and completed the move and sale of their house of 32 years during the closed down period of the pandemic.  They are mostly isolated except for adventures to visit their two daughters’ families and 6 teenage grandchildren.  Dr. Gaddis golfs, reads, walks, plays with their dog (Mickey), kayaks, and cheers on grandkids’ sports and activities.  She keeps in touch with family and friends all over the country through social media and Zoom calls.

Dr. Gaddis is currently retired after failing retirement for eight years by continuously making volunteer initiatives into full-time unpaid positions.  Since 2010, she developed podcasts for candidates and mentors for the NBRC at Illinois State University.  She led and built the foundation for the Illinois State Teachers of the Year and Finalists (ILSTOY) chapter of NNSTOY.  Dr. Gaddis chaired the NNSTOY Membership Committee and the 2016 NNSTOY Chicago Conference.  She co-authored two research studies about teacher career continuums and collected and analyzed data for another on identifying and decreasing opportunity gaps in schools. 

Prior to 2010, she was the Director of the National Board Resource Center (NBRC) at Illinois State University, a position she has held since 1999. Through her work at the NBRC, Dr. Gaddis worked to improve instruction and student achievement through expanding the roles of National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) in schools. An NBCT herself, Dr. Gaddis taught students ages pre-school through high school for 20 years in McLean County CUSD No. 5 and Olympia CUSD 16. Dr. Gaddis also served as a field advisor and educator-in-residence with the Illinois State Board of Education for three years, and coached administrators and teachers in ten schools in Illinois and the United States Virgin Islands to develop strategic plans to improve student performance. In addition to the Milken Educator Award, Dr. Gaddis was named Illinois Teacher of the Year by the Illinois State Board of Education in 1995.