Monique Lynch
Program Director
Walden University
Milestones
My road in life has been direct.
Finances were tight. I always wanted to pursue advanced degrees, but it is tough on a teacher's salary.
Eventually, I was able to pull together low-interest loans, personal savings, and doctoral fellowships to fund my graduate studies.
My husband and I both have strong professional careers and it is sometimes tough to pursue your career goals without disrupting your spouse's career path.
I took a professorship that meant living in a city three hours away on Monday-Thursday and coming home on the weekends.
For a few years, that was workable and allowed me to gain some experience I needed to move forward in my career path.
My husband and I struggled to have a family, and when we finally adopted our son, I wanted to have flexibility to be highly involved in his life without giving up my well-established career.
I was lucky to connect with Walden University just as my son was starting school. Working online gives me the flexibility to be very involved and it gives me access to a current classroom.
This is important to my work with teachers pursuing their MSED degrees because it has been a few years now since I was teaching K-12 students myself.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Temple High School
Temple High School
Certification/License
Executive Assistant/Executive Secretary
The American Society of Association Executives
Executive Assistant/Executive Secretary
The American Society of Association Executives
Career
Program Director
I direct the core courses and STEM-related specialization for the M.S. in Education program.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Education
Technology
Teaching / Mentoring
Day to Day
As a Program Director for the M.S. in Education program, my day is a mix of being online and being present with my family. Since the students and instructors I work with are mostly teachers, I need to be available at least some of the time during evenings and weekends when they are doing their work. I also have typical faculty responsibilities attending committee meetings, managing faculty performance, making improvements to courses, and more. It is a full job, but thankfully is very flexible.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for everyone
I relied on others to guide me. Sometimes that took the form of a formal mentor such as the one I had as a first-year teacher. Other times, people who never knew they were mentoring me made the greatest difference. I found that I made better decisions by valuing the information and insights I gained from other people in my field. My own research and reading were essential, but, in the education field, there are many ideas that are best learned through experience with others.
Recommended Education
My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Society in General:
"Teaching is really difficult and the pay is awful."
Challenges I Overcame
Financial
