Margaret Chidester EdD ’95 inducted into the 2022 Dean’s Superintendents Advisory Group Hall of Fame

On January 27, the 2022 Dean’s Superintendent Advisory Group (DSAG) awards ceremony, held in Palm Springs, California, inducted long-time educator and USC Rossier professor Margaret Chidester EdD ’95 into the DSAG Hall of Fame. Attended by 125 DSAG members, guests, event sponsors and USC Rossier faculty and staff, the group also awarded four current EdD students with DSAG scholarships.

“This year, we pay tribute to an exceptional member of DSAG who served our community in these important ways,” said Pedro A. Noguera, the Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean of USC Rossier. “Congratulations to Maggie on a well-deserved recognition of her service to our community of education leaders.”

Chidester has represented California school districts, charter schools and related education entities as counsel since 1981, and at her law offices since 2000 in partnership with her husband, Steven. She has taught in USC Rossier’s Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership program on campus and online, and has served on the USC Rossier Board of Councilors since 2000. Chidester previously served on the USC Alumni Association Board of Governors as the USC Rossier representative.

“Although USC Rossier has evolved markedly since my years as an EdD student and, later, adjunct professor, some things in our profession have changed little since I taught English learners in downtown Santa Ana in the 1970s,” Chidester said. “Today’s students in Santa Ana and their counterparts all over the state still need and deserve our utmost support to achieve their potential. In accordance with USC Rossier’s mission statement ‘to prepare leaders to achieve educational equity through practice, research and policy,’ we can do no less.”

The DSAG Endowed Scholarships, given annually to EdD students who aspire to the position of superintendent, were awarded to Christa Glembocki, principal of Dwyer Middle School in the Huntingdon School District; Marie Williams, instructional superintendent in the Fresno Unified School District; Michael Romero, superintendent in Local District South in the Los Angeles Unified School District; and Carlos Montes, Rivera Community of Schools Administrator in Local District South in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Montes’ scholarship was awarded through a partnership with TELACU, whose mission is to equip Latino/Latina scholars with the tools they need to effect positive change in their communities

The following day, the women of DSAG gathered for their annual brunch, hosted this year by Chidester. In 2017, the group began meeting to address the common challenges that women leaders in education have faced and to find a solution to those obstacles.