Sandidge named Shmerling Chair for Excellence in Teaching

By Juanita I.C. Traughber, Director of Marketing & Communications

Interim Director Juliet Douglas named Sixth Grade English Teacher Katie Reen Sandidge as the Lisa and Mike Shmerling Chair for Excellence in Teaching during the Class of 2025’s Convocation on Tuesday, May 13.

Created in 2005, the Shmerling Chair was USN’s first endowed chair created to honor, the school’s most outstanding and experienced faculty members on a rotating basis. The chair is awarded every four years to a teacher whose contributions to USN have inspired students and colleagues in support of the school’s mission to “model the best in educational practices.” Past chair holders are retired Fifth Grade Social Studies Dee Holder Hicks Bradshaw ’58, retired High School Science Teacher Bill Rodriguez, retired Fourth Grade Teacher Nikki Hunt, and retired First Grade Teacher Marte Kennedy, and Math Department Chair and High School Teacher Cindy Crenshaw. 

While bestowing the honor, Douglas described Sandidge as “a teacher who allows her students to find a love for her content through a variety of ways … constantly updating activities and teaching approaches to cast a wider net and include more students, more perspectives, more interests, all more inclusively.”

“A teacher that prioritizes collaboration, is beloved by her colleagues and has successfully mentored a number of new faculty members, a teacher who always thinks big and finds ways to make bold Ideas come alive, a teacher who expects more out of her students and believes in them even more than they believe in themselves,” Douglas continued.

Sandidge, who joined USN in 2012 and chaired the school’s reaccreditation committee in 2019, earned her Master’s of Education from the University of Vermont and Bachelor’s of Education from Tusculum College. She is known for teaching sixth graders debate and civil conversation through thought-provoking discussions about Harry Potter, simulations on the Tennessee State Capitol’s House of Representatives floor, and cross-divisional lessons that bring seniors back to her Middle School classroom. Each school year, students are immersed in her class reading of Ellen Raskin’s “The Westing Game,” which Sandidge describes as the only book she keeps in her curriculum. Her research to answer questions for the Class of 2028 led her to cold contact the executive producer for HBO Max’s production of the novel and allowed students to share their opinions and ideas with the production team as the series was being made. 

In accepting the chair, Sandidge shared her appreciation to work with bright students and colleagues and reminded the Class of 2025 of her words when they were in her classroom six years ago.

“When we did the debate unit, I would say to you all the time, in six years from now, you're the voters. And to me, our future has never been brighter, even in really, really tough times,” she said as she joined on stage by her husband Mark and 4-year-old daughter Molly Jane.

“And 2000 Edgehill is the greenest grass that exists in this city and maybe on this planet. And you're only getting me out of here in a pine box,” she said as the audience laughed.

Click here to see more Convocation photos, which also honored Chris Bradshaw '00 as the 2025 Distinguished Alumnus for his contributions to closing food deserts as a justice-oriented, social entrepreneur.

Michael D. Shmerling ’73, for whom the chair is named, was named Distinguished Alumnus in 2022 and addressed graduates during their Convocation that year. Shmerling served the USN Board of Trustees from 1996 to 2008, including one term as President and as co-chair for the Campaign for Arts & Letters. Shmerling, an Emeritus Trustee, and wife Lisa are parents of alumni Andy Shmerling ’99, Mollie Shmerling Perry ’03, and Katie Shmerling Wayne ’05 and grandparents of USN students David ’32, Jack ’33, Abby ’35, Max ’36, and Alice ’38.