Cheri Dedmon has launched 4D Strategy Group, LLC where she will act as owner and educational consultant. 4D aims to align workforce development needs specific to STEM school curriculum in partnership with local businesses and educational organizations. 4D helps build and maximize leadership capacity at various levels within organizations and offers continuing support to these leaders to help achieve desired results. The efforts of 4D could hopefully mean better STEM results for Tennessee, she said.

STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, marks the beginning of a new way of thinking about education by helping students develop the critical skills needed for the competitive workforce of tomorrow. It has been acknowledged through editorials, articles, and studies that change needs to occur within the educational curriculum in order for American students to advance beyond the nation’s chief economic competitors rather than continue to lag behind, officials said. Trends of poor technical skills among the potential workforce have made companies such as Volkswagen advance a proposal for a cooperative industrial approach in public education to promote high-level technical education here in Tennessee. Acquiring technical skills in STEM fields is going to be a crucial factor in grooming workers for the advanced technical industries that our world is evolving to, officials said.

Ms. Dedmon, who is well-known within the STEM community, is frequently invited to attend conferences where she is able to hone her skills and share expertise with peers throughout the country. She was most recently chosen to attend the 100 Women Leaders in STEM conference, a conference that showcased the careers and initiatives of more than 100 women who are active role models within the STEM initiative and included insider perspectives about the traits needed to advance in the STEM professions.

Ms. Dedmon has been working within public education for the past 32 years. She received a Masters of Education from UTC focusing on Administration and Supervision grades K-12. She most recently served as PEF’s director of STEM teacher residencies where she designed, implemented, and managed innovative teacher residency programs throughout various counties and developed a team of quality urban STEM teachers. Additionally, Ms. Dedmon has served as vice president of development for Newton Learning, director of strategic planning, assessment, and accountability for Dalton Public Schools and has been the assistant principal and principal for numerous schools.