Effie Christie

Effie Christie Leader in Education

Effie Christie, Ed.D. is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education and a Master of Arts and Doctor of Education from Seton Hall University in Administration and Supervision. She has held numerous positions in the public sector as high school teacher, principal, supervisor of bilingual/ESL, director of funded programs, associate/assistant superintendent and superintendent.

Dr. Christie served eight years as the supervisor of bilingual/ESL education in two New Jersey urban districts. She was the first female superintendent in two New Jersey districts, sparking her research interest in women and leadership. When she assumed her first superintendence she was one of sixty female superintendents in a state with over 600 districts. She was the coordinator of the urban initiative with the New Jersey State Department of Education where she worked with the state’s Education Commissioner, Dr. Saul Cooperman, to improve urban students’ academic achievement after the publication of A Nation at Risk.

In 1993, Dr. Christie was recruited by the New Jersey Commissioner of Education to participate in President Clinton’s “Goals 2000” program. Dr. Christie retired from K-12 public education while in Newark, New Jersey, where she was an assistant superintendent during the state takeover. In this position, she managed seventeen schools/9500 students in the South Ward. Since that time, she has held several positions in higher education including academic dean at a for-profit college, coordinator of early childhood and teacher education at Passaic County Community College, and for the past fourteen years she has served in various positions as assistant professor, department chair and Director for the Institute for Women in Educational Leadership at Kean University.

In addition to her professional background, Dr. Christie has served three churches as choir leader, St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Newark, Evangelismos Greek Orthodox Church in Philadelphia and St. Andrew Greek Orthodox Church in Randolph. She also served as “Sights and Sounds” coordinator for St. Andrew’s and taught Sunday School.

She has three daughters, Maria, Stella and JoAnna, and seven grandchildren, two presently attending college. Ally is at Ohio State and Nicholas Bayne is at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Christie also wrote a chapter,” Greek Orthodox Schools,” in a two-volume work, The Handbook of Faith Based Schools (2010). In March 2019, Dr. Christie is scheduled to present a paper, “Pathways to Success,” at the American Association of School Administrators Women’s Leadership Conference.