Richard Penny

Since 2007 I have been privileged to serve as a member of the faculty for the Richard W. Riley College of Education and Human Sciences at Walden University. I currently serve as senior contributing faculty. In my time at Walden I have seen over 95 students for whom I served as committee member go on to earn their doctorates. In addition to Walden, I have held faculty appointments at University of St. Augustine, East Carolina University, Heritage University, University of Tennessee, and University of Washington. I have also served as a university administrator – from 2008 to 2016 I served as vice chancellor at the 6000-studdent University of Washington Bothell campus.

In addition to my current classroom role at Walden, for which I teach three courses a term in the masters in higher education program, I have contributed to the development of the new professional doctoral Ed.D. program, serving both on the provost's WAVE committee and on the ProDoc committee for the Riley College led by Drs. Stacy Wahl and James Bailey. In 2025 I went on to serve as subject matter expert for the development of EDDD 8120, Understanding Organizational Systems. This course will launch in May, 2026, and I have been tapped to serve as one of the instructors.

I also served as member of the Microsoft Teams committee for the Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Program in the Riley College. We led a multi-year effort to support the faculty during the COVID pandemic by creating a community of care and addressing social determinants of health. A paper describing this work in in press at the Journal of Educational Research and Practice.

i have been personally active as a scholar during my time at Walden. I served for 12 years as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Education and Training Studies. I have published 28 papers in peer-reviewed journals, three book chapters, and one book. Twelve of these were published since 2023.

One of my two most important lifelong contributions to social change involved both academic and public participation. Between 2006 and 2007, I did the financial analysis and leadership advocacy to show that South Seattle College and its affiliated foundation could afford to offer a year of college tuition-free to graduates of a nearby inner-city high school. I then led the launch of this 13th-Year Promise Scholarship, work that Elizabeth Pluhta continued after I left the Seattle Colleges to work for the University of Washington. We later published a paper on the project’s success (Pluhta & Penny, 2013). In the following years, the college expanded the program to other high schools in its catchment area.

Later, I participated with others to advocate that the city to fund this effort more broadly. Our efforts paid off, and Seattle appropriated a $60 million gift to a new citywide college foundation, in order to offer 2 years of college tuition-free to all public high school graduates (Beekman, 2017). After this success, I returned to the Seattle Colleges from 2018 to 2019 as a parttime consultant to assist in the policy and staff development preparatory to accepting the gift and to laying the foundation for a $60 million capital campaign to raise matching funds. In 2021 the city contributed another $10.7 million to the Seattle Promise scholarship fund (Brunner, 2021).

My other significant contribution to social change occurred in 1996, when I served as director for the American River Coalition, a diverse alliance of more than 30 conservation, recreation, tribal, commercial fishing, taxpayer, and public-interest organizations. I led a coordinated national campaign opposing the proposed Auburn Dam on the North Fork of the American River, which would have been the first major dam constructed in the United States since the 1970s. The effort culminated in the project’s defeat in the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. This sucess marked a turning point in U.S. water policy, presaging the modern era of dam removal and salmon restoration exemplified by later projects on the Elwha and Klamath rivers, and advanced the protection of river ecosystems and the rights and livelihoods of Indigenous peoples historically dependent on healthy salmon runs.

I mention my earlier work on the Seattle Promise initiative and the Auburn Dam campaign because of their direct relevance to my current academic work at Walden and to the students we serve. Both experiences were grounded in commitments to social change, equity, and the creation of a community of care that extends beyond formal institutions. Expanding access to postsecondary education and protecting river systems central to Indigenous livelihoods each required attention to social determinants of health, including education, environmental quality, economic stability, and community voice. These projects shaped how I understand leadership, policy, and systems-level change, and they inform how I approach teaching, mentoring, and collaboration at Walden. I am able to bring to my classrooms and to my interactions with colleagues a lived perspective on how sustained caring commitments, across sectors and over time, can translate research, values, and collective action into durable public good.

References

Auburn Dam sinks in House again. (1996, June 28). The Sacramento Bee, p. A1.

Beekman, D. (2017, November 29). Jenny Durkan takes step on free-college promise on 1st full day as Seattle mayor. The Seattle Times.

Brunner, J. (2021, June 3). Seattle offers more support for students in tuition-free community-college program. The Seattle Times.

Pluhta, E. A., & Penny, G. R. (2013). The effect of a community college promise scholarship on access and success. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 37(10), 723-734.

Courses Taught

EDDD 8051 - Data Driven Instruction

EDDD 8050 - Designing Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment: A Systems Perspective

EDDD 8101 - Learner Centered Curriculum

EDDD 8052 - Service Learning

EDDD 8043 - Promoting Student Development

EDUC 6760 - Facilitating Learning Online

EDDD 8113 - Tools for Doctoral Research Success

EDUC 6157 - Understandings Institutions' Organizational Behavior and Culture

EDUC 6177 - Using Techology to Enhance Adult Learning

EDUC 6752 - Leading Change in Student Support Services

EDUC 6175 - Improving Adult Learning

EDUC 6176 - Improving Collaboration and Group Lerarning

EDUC 6174 - Developing a Repertoire of Effective Practices

EDUC 6179 - Online Strategies for Adult Learners

Education

BA, Wake Forest University

MBA, City University

PhD, Duke University

Postdoctoral, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Postgraduate Certificate, Washington Executive Leadership Academy

Public Service

Seattle Colleges and City of Seattle, Organizer - Seattle

Curriculum Review Panel, School of Business, City University, Committee Member - Bellevue

Board of Advisors, Environmental Regulation Certificate Program, University of Washington, Board Member - Seattle

Snohomish County Economic Development Council, Board Member - Everett

Snohomish County Blueprint 2015, Committee Member - Everett

Awards / Honors

Exceptional Mentor in the University’s Master Class Program, Walden University, 2022

Rita Turner Award, Walden University, 2021

High Performer Faculty Award, Walden University, 2011

Full Member, Sigma Xi, Sigma Xi, 1985

NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institutes of Health, 1983

NIMH Predoctoral Fellow, National Institute of Mental Health, 1981

James B. Duke Senior Fellow, Duke University, 1981

James B. Duke Fellow, Duke University, 1977

Carswell Scholar, Wake Forest University, 1973

Publications

Sims, R. L., Penny, G. (2015). Examination of a failed professional learning community. Journal of Education and Training Studies

Croutch, B., Penny, G. R., Mccraney, M. R. (2023). Exploring middle school mathematics teachers’ approaches to instruction and assessment. International Journal of Social Science Research and Review

McBean, T., Penny, G. R., Mccraney, M. R. (2023). High school teachwes’ views on formative assessment in the online learning environment. International Journal of Social Science Research and Review

McBean, T., Penny, G. R., Mccraney, M. R. (2023). High school teachwes’ views on formative assessment in the online learning environment. International Journal of Social Science Research and Review

Washington, L. D., Penny, G. R., Jones, J. (2019). Perceptions of community college students and instructors on traditional and technology-based learning. Research in Higher Education Journal

Lane, L. J., Jones, J., Penny, G. R. (2019). Qualitative case study of teachers’ morale in a turnaround school. Research in Higher Education Journal

DeGoede, A., Penny, G. R., Brackin, D. (2023). Qualitative investigation of K-6 administrators’ perceptions of nature based learning. International Journal of Social Science and Human Research

Fordyce, F. D., Mccraney, M. R., Penny, G. R., Aguilar, S., Cale, C. (2019). Teachers’ perception of differentiation and the struggle for consistent implementation. International Journal of Social Science Research and Review

Bailey, M., Mccraney, M. R., Penny, G. R., Aguilar, S., Cale, C. (2023). Teachers’ perceptions of technology integration and pedagogy in kindergarten to Grade 5. International Education & Research Journal

Pluhta, E. A., Penny, G. (2013). The effect of a community college promise scholarship on access and success. Community College Journal of Research and Practice

Presentations

Penny, G. R. (2007). Creating gift acceptance policies that work. Council on Resource Development

Penny, G. R., Pluhta, E. (2005). Special events: It’s not about the details. Council on Resource Development

Penny, G. R. (2006). Tax implications of charitable gifts: A review of the basics. Council on Resource Development