Tennessee Voices, Episode 243: Candice McQueen, president, Lipscomb University
As the new president of Lipscomb University, Candice McQueen says she has been spending a lot of time listening to people in the community.
Their input will help inform and guide the institution's work as it seeks to be a national leader in Christian education, she told me on this episode of the Tennessee Voices podcast.
Lipscomb is home for McQueen who previously served as a faculty member and education school dean before spending four years as former Gov. Bill Haslam's education commissioner.
We talked about the lessons she learned from her service to the state as well as her concerns about how the politics of the days sometimes prevents comprehensive conversations on important issues.
Another topic we discussed was Lipscomb's recent initiative to develop rural leaders across the state. Tennessee is mostly rural geographically and many of these have seen not seen the prosperity that urban counterparts, such as, Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga have experienced.
Recently, McQueen participated in a roundtable of five college presidents at Belmont University where they discussed collaboration and community engagement. We talked about her vision for sustaining that cooperation in the long term.
Op-Ed by Candice McQueen: These are four ways the state of education in Tennessee is changing
Hear more Tennessee Voices: Get the weekly opinion newsletter for insightful and thought provoking columns.
Sign up for Latino Tennessee Voices newsletter: Read compelling stories for and with the Latino community in Tennessee.
Sign up for Black Tennessee Voices newsletter: Read compelling columns by Black writers from across Tennessee.
Your state. Your stories. Support more reporting like this.
A subscription gives you unlimited access to stories across Tennessee that make a difference in your life and the lives of those around you. Click here to become a subscriber.
About Tennessee Voices
The Tennessee Voices videocast is a 20-minute program, which started in March 2020 and invites leaders, thinkers and innovators who have written guest columns for a USA TODAY Network Tennessee publication to share their insights and wisdom with me and our viewers.
Please email your ideas for future guests to me at [email protected]. Thank you for watching.
Finally, our journalists are working hard during this pandemic to bring you accurate, verified and solid information. Please consider subscribing and supporting local journalism.
Watch past episodes: Tennessee Voices videocast
David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee and an editorial board member of The Tennessean. Tweet to him at @davidplazas.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Listening to people to serve educational needs with Candice McQueen
