Dr. Annesa Cheek, Vice President of School and Community Partnerships, is one of 40 people to receive The Aspen Institute’s National Fellowship Award. Recipients of the award join a group known as the “Aspen Presidential Fellows,” and attend seminars that promote networking and effective mentoring.
Each Presidential Fellow has a biography on Aspen Institute’s website. Cheek’s explains the history of her education. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Business from Tennessee State University. Along with that, she also has an MBA from the University of Dayton and a doctorate degree in Educational Administration from the University of Texas.
Cheek has been working at Sinclair since 2006. She is in charge of managing up to $90 million per year in student financial aid. She has worked in several different positions while at Sinclair, including assistant to the president, the senior college’s Advancement division and chief of staff to the president. Currently, she is the Vice President of the School and Community Partnerships Division.
The School and Community Partnerships Division, according to Sinclair’s website, “Connects area people and businesses to the educational programs and resources they need to help their communities grow.” This division is in charge of programs for high school students, such as College Credit Plus, a dual enrollment program, and Upward Bound, a pre-college program that assists low-income students in the Dayton area with high school and college preparation.
They also have high school dropout recovery services and community outreach programs. Their dropout program is called the Fast Forward Center. This program assists people aged 16 to 21 who are not regularly attending school to get a high school diploma and earn college credit hours at the same time.
One of their outreach programs, Think College, reaches out to pre-high school children in a fun, hands-on manner that helps them think about a potential education and career.
Steve Johnson, President of Sinclair, said Cheek is “one of the most dedicated and most talented leaders I have known in my decades of experience in higher education.” He said he is excited that this experience will make her an even stronger leader and that her colleagues and our students will benefit as a result.
The Aspen Institute is an organization based in Washington, D.C. Its mission, according to their website, is “to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues.” The Institute has campuses on the Wye River in MD and Aspen, CO. Along with this; they have offices in New York City, plus an “International network of partners.”
The Institute hosts seminars, policy programs, public events and conferences, and young-leader fellowships. The seminars are to help participants reflect on what they think makes a good society, thereby deepening knowledge, broadening perspectives and enhancing their capacity to solve the problems leaders face.
Micah Karr
Reporter