Leadership

Happy New Year.

Fred Rogers has inspired countless people with his radical kindness. I recently shared seven lessons learned from Mr. Rogers in an invited talk I gave at my university. I am a recipient of the 2025-2026 Faculty Senate award.

Faculty Senate at the University of Wyoming invited me to give a presentation on leadership. I got the idea for the leadership presentation from our students one day when I was walking through our campus student union building. Students asked the WWMRD question: What would Mr. Rogers do?

Our students were passing out stickers and encouragement. The sticker below was made by our students. The orange background of the sticker displays lyrics from his music. Mr. Rogers composed more than 200 songs with many of them appearing on his television show.

“It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood” when we support our neighbors through positive and caring leadership principles. Mr. Rogers left behind an enduring legacy of care for each other that is still relevant today. If you are interested, tune into our BUTTERCUP podcast episode 36 with Bill Isler who is President Emeritus of  Fred Rogers Productions. Hear him share stories of how Fred Rogers used his leadership skills with children’s media production. Wishing you a neighborly good new year in 2026.

The sticker above was created by college students.

Macy, M. (2025, December). From Latrobe to Laramie: Leadership Lessons from Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. University of Wyoming Faculty Senate, Laramie, Wyoming.

The Day I Went to Harvard

“Learn to Change the World,” were the words on flags that hung from lamp posts on tree lined streets in Cambridge, Massachusetts. These inspirational words struck a nerve for me the day I went to Harvard. Economic prosperity for a community hinges on early childhood care for families. The reason I went to Harvard is to learn more about how children, families, and neighborhoods can prosper in rural areas.

Taking a selfie with my Harvard CEEL profs. Finally got to meet these incredible people in person after taking their classes for 2 years online trough Harvard Graduate School of Education. Left to right: me, Dr. Danila Crespin Zidovsky, and Dr. Emily Wiklund Hayhurst from Harvard and Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative.

I learned about ‘Strengthening State and City Early Education Systems and Policy for Today & Tomorrow’ from emails I received from Zaentz Early Education Initiative at Harvard Graduate School of Education.

During the COVID-19 pandemic I was part of a certificate program called, Certificate in Early Education Leadership (CEEL). It took me about 2 years and 15 classes to earn the CEEL. I learned tons of cool things in this program about policy work, and how to advocate and serve children and their families.

CEEL prof: Dr. Nonie Lesaux

I developed a proposal to create a cross sector team who could explore workforce development that could benefit children and families in rural areas. Education, business, and health coming together to address the needs of our children in rural neighborhoods. The title: Recruitment & Retention of Professionals for Rural Communities in Education, Business, and Health Sectors Serving Young Children and their Families.

The proposal I wrote was accepted and our team attended the ‘Strengthening State and City Early Education Systems and Policy for Today & Tomorrow’ hosted by Zaentz Early Education Initiative at Harvard Graduate School of Education. They accepted 12 proposals. Mine was one of them. Thank you, Zaentz Foundation and team!

My team consisted of: Carime Ruvalcaba (early childhood educator, Cadre member of Buffett Early Childhood Institute, and business owner of Karime Childcare LLC serving children and families whose home language is Spanish), Cathy Lang (executive director of the Nebraska Business Development Center), Dawn Mollenkopf (professor who studies personnel preparation at University of Nebraska Kearney), Nikki Carritt (Assistant Vice Chancellor for Health Workforce Education Relations & Director of Rural Health Initiatives at University of Nebraska Medical Center; Assistant Director of Community Outreach & Engagement of Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center; Nikki leads rural health initiative for University of Nebraska) and I.

“Learn to Change the World”

 Our team had homework assignments and two meetings before we went to Boston. Harvard executive ed programs use case method instruction. We read an in-depth case study about New York’s PreK for All program.

L. to R.: Cathy Lang, Nikki Carritt, me, and Carime Ruvalcaba

My team is trying to develop ways that could help us recruit and retain professionals who can serve children who are multi-language learners and their families in education, rural healthcare, and business to serve our rural communities in Nebraska. Our goal is to expand access and enhance the capacity of higher education to develop a strategic plan for collaboration and forming a rural hub network in Nebraska.

Gutman Library at Harvard is where we worked together with other teams. L. to R.: Cathy Lang, Nikki Carritt, me, and Carime Ruvalcaba

Our schedule for the day.

Our interdisciplinary team is focusing on two areas: (a) discussing policy implications for recruitment and retention of workforce to support regional rural hub model, and (b) creating an action plan to build coordination and expand access to resources for child care, health care, business, and early learning programs in rural areas.

Nikki Carritt (University of Nebraska Medical Center), Charlotte Petty (Harvard Graduate School of Education), and Robin Kane (Harvard Graduate School of Education).

Spectacular teams from Iowa, Colorado, California, Texas, Connecticut, Tennessee, Georgia, Vermont, and Pennsylvania. And of course our team from Nebraska. We did the lightening round with the team from Iowa. So interesting to hear about what the other teams are working on to help children and families.

I love to see Carime Ruvalcaba shine.

Carime and me walking in the snow in Cambridge.

Be ready! You never know who you’ll run into. Nikki and I running into the magnificent Dr.Jack Shonkoff (Harvard professor of pediatrics) at our hotel, The Commander, in Cambridge. He was there for a meeting the day we checked in.

“Our work today is like an intricately woven quilt,” ~Dr. Danila Crespin Zidovsky, Harvard Graduate School of Education.

The day I went to Harvard to explore early childhood education will go in my “smile file” forever. It was wonderful being there with an amazing team to learn from passionate people about how to better serve children and their families. Epic conversations can propel ideas and potential solutions for our rural communities struggling with workforce shortages. Conversations to be continued.

What does Hollywood have to do with Early Childhood Educators and Harvard?
Tune in to episode of BUTTERCUP podcast (click bold link) to hear interview with Harvard profs who provide professional development and resources to educators thanks to a gift from a Hollywood film producer who was a philanthropist, record producer, and won Academy Award 3x. Dr. Danila Crespin Zidovsky and Ms. Emily Wiklund Hayhurst share the Zaentz Early Childhood Initiative and resources for professionals.

Macy, M., Carritt, N., Lang, C., Ruvalcaba, C., & Mollenkop, D. (December, 2023). Recruitment & Retention of Professionals for Rural Communities in Education, Business, and Health Sectors Serving Young Children and their Families. “Strengthening State and City Early Education Systems and Policy for Today and Tomorrow” of Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative at Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Dandelion Wishes

On July 1, 2022 I became the Community Chair of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute of the University of Nebraska. There are four possible Chairs that represent each campus in the University of Nebraska system for the Buffett Early Childhood Institute. Dr. Julia Torquati is the Buffett Early Childhood Institute Community Chair for University of Nebraska Lincoln. I am the Buffett Early Childhood Institute Community Chair for University of Nebraska Kearney. Both Buffett Early Childhood Institute Community Chairs for University of Nebraska Omaha and University of Nebraska Medical Center are currently vacant. Thursday evening, Buffett Early Childhood Institute threw me a party at the Kearney Country Club to celebrate our newly developed partnership. Below are my reflections on this occasion that I shared with everyone at the reception (and now with you).

Me at the College of Education at the University of Nebraska Kearney standing in front of the “Knowledge Tree” by artist Don Mitchell of Littleton, CO. The apple has 8 slices in it to represent educators who have made contributions: (1) Mary McLeod Bethune, (2) John Dewey, (3) Jaime Escalante, (4) Friedrich Froebel, (5) Thomas Jefferson, (6) Anne Sullivan Macy, (7) Helen Keller, and (8) Horace Mann. Photo by Erika Pritchard.

Being here today at the Kearney Country Club for a party thrown in my honor makes me feel so humbled to join the Buffett Early Childhood Institute’s team as the Community Chair representing the University of Nebraska Kearney (UNK) campus as part of our University of Nebraska (NU) system. I want to do two things: (1) express my gratitude, and (2) share what this opportunity as Buffett Early Childhood Institute Community Chair means to me.

Thank You

There are so many people to thank. First, thank you to Dr. Sam Meisels for inviting me to become the Buffett Early Childhood Institute Community Chair. His contributions to the early childhood field are remarkable, and I have immense respect for his pioneering work as the founding Executive Director of Buffett Early Childhood Institute. When I interviewed for my UNK job, I got to meet Dr. Meisels on Zoom and was star struck. I’d been a Meisels fangirl for many years, and used his works to inform my own in assessment, and measures he created called the Work Sampling System and Ounce. I am grateful to Dr. Meisels for his fabulous career and dedication to improving the lives of children and families, as well as for inviting me to be part of this prestigious team at the Buffett Early Childhood Institute. Thanks a million to the leadership team at Buffett Early Childhood Institute for welcoming me to be part of your family. I am thrilled for all the exciting ways we will collaborate to continue to make Nebraska the best place to be a baby.

I would like to thank my Dean, Dr. Mark Reid, from UNK College of Education for his leadership and all the ways he has inspired and supported me. One of my favorite quotes from Dean Reid is, “Professional and calm solves problems.” I’ve used this as a pep talk for myself. Many thanks to: NU President Ted Carter, NU Provost Jeffrey Gold, NU Vice Provost David Jackson, UNK Chancellor Doug Kristensen, UNK Vice Chancellor Kristen Majocha, UNK Graduate School Dean Mark Ellis, UNK CBT Dean Tim Jares, UNK Director of Research Sharon Obasi, UNK Office of Sponsored Research Travis Reynolds, Vice President of Alumni Relations & Development at the NU Foundation Lucas Dart, UNK COE Associate Dean Miechelle McKelvey & Assistant Dean Scott Unruh, Dept. Chairs Chandra Diaz and Kyle Luthans, and Assistant Teacher Education Chairs Dawn Mollenkopf and Rebecca Nelson. Getting to work alongside amazing people at UNK and NU who care deeply for our students and NU mission is such a joy. I can imagine it is hard work being an academic administrator and this All Star team make it look so easy.

My mentors have helped me navigate my professional life. Their mentoring has inspired me in so many ways to realize potential in myself and others. I am also grateful to my team in the Early Childhood Inclusive program, Dept. of Teacher Ed, COE, friends across UNK campus and UNK Plambeck Early Childhood Center, as well as friends in the NU system at our sister campuses that I’ve gotten a chance to work with since arriving in 2021. I am impressed everyday by the dedication you have to serving our students, contributing to research, and outreach. I am grateful for our Nebraska early childhood care and education workforce, children, and their families. My college students, past and present, are such a big part of my life and I am appreciative for all the ways college students teach me. Thank you: Mr. Ron Williams, Ms. Cille Williams, and the Williams family for creating the Ron and Cille Williams Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Education that has enabled me to focus on outreach as part of my job at UNK. With a smaller teaching load and resources, the Williams family endowment supports me as I strive to make lives better for children and families in Nebraska and beyond through high quality early childhood education.

It is with a thankful heart for my family that I get to do what makes me sparkle. I want to thank my wonderful husband, Robert Macy, who has encouraged me and supported me since I was a special education teacher, then when we were both graduate students at the University of Oregon, then as academics struggling to establish our careers, and co-parenting our smart, talented and kind-hearted daughter Adriana. Thank you precious Adriana Maria for making me a Mommy and the opportunity to watch you grow and develop into the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious person you are. When I told you both I wanted us to go to Nebraska, you sweetly jumped on board this grand adventure to the beautiful Heartland of America. I cannot thank you enough. I love you both so much! xo

Willa Cather wrote in her novel My Ántonia, “Ain't it wonderful, Jim, how much people can mean to each other?” Ron and Tina Galliano, my parents who traveled from Seattle to be here with us today, mean the world to me. They modeled for my two brothers and I how to respect and care for others whether it was serving people in their Italian restaurant or beauty shop. My Dad built a hair salon in our home and Mom served our community by doing hair for women in my hometown. Tuesday through Saturday we had people come into our home. My parents treated people in our community as though they were family. If one of Mom’s ladies in the beauty shop was celebrating something special or had a bad day, Mom would go in the kitchen and get her a pizzelle and little shot of Amaretto. I learned from Mom & Dad’s model how important it is to create a connection for everyone to feel included. Lifting up and serving others is rewarding. My brother and his girlfriend are also here with us today from Seattle, as well as a former student of mine who traveled from Bay Area to celebrate this special honor from Buffett Early Childhood Institute. Thank you for your gigantic hearts and being here today, Mom, Dad, Rico Galliano, Molly Dore, and Bingbing Zhang. Ti voglio molto bene.

What the Buffett Early Childhood Institute Chair Means to Me

I love to find dandelions that have turned into magic puffballs. When I was a little girl growing up in Seattle, it was a magical time to find dry dandelions. It was only a matter of time until dandelions became damp and soggy from the Puget Sound mist. So, you had to time it just right. Pick fuzzy dandelions, make a wish, and then blow hard into the fluff and watch the seeds float into the air. Did you ever do that?

The seeds spread all over the place. I remember a recurring wish I would make back then. I was wishing I could grow up and become a teacher. For as long as I can remember I’ve had admiration for the teaching profession that started first by watching Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood on television. Teachers were, and are, like rock stars to me. My parents have a picture of me around age 3 where I have all my dolls assembled into a class and me teaching. Educators have always been elevated in my mind as a profession I aspire to become, respect, admire, and love with all my heart. What a beautiful logo of the dandelion for the Buffett Early Childhood Institute. On a spring trip to a conference, Dr. Kate Gallagher from the Buffett Early Childhood Institute, shared the story of the logo with me. The image is a symbol for transformation. From a tiny seed great ideas can be propagated into something grand. Buffett Early Childhood Institute represents for me how innovations and ideas can be spread to elevate the early childhood profession, as well as community outreach and research to benefit children and families.

My first class.

It is every child’s right to have access to high quality education and care in the early years. Yet, right now, many children and their families are missing out on a chance for early childhood education and care. This Chair allows me the privilege and opportunity to join the Buffett team in service to children, families, and our workforce. Welcoming collaboration!!! Open invitation to anyone hearing or reading this message. The Buffett Early Childhood Institute motto is, “Start early, start well.” Dandelion wishes could be planted and grown when we all come together.

This Chair means that I have resources to plant, nurture, and help grow good things for children with my Buffett Early Childhood Institute family. Pathways for community engagement is what this opportunity means to me. Together we partner with others to serve our communities through translational research, practice, policy, and outreach. The Institute’s mission is, “to transform the lives of young children by improving their learning and development.” We can realize this mission with the rapprochement of partnerships within our community to include education, health, legislative, government, non-profit, business, and social sectors to implement research-based early childhood services for children.  

Hand in hand/mano a mano, we come together to make the world a better place with our energy and love for our children, families, neighborhoods, community, and each other. We do this by rolling up our sleeves and putting our hands to work to create something that is perennial. At UNK we can use our hand, or mano, to throw lopes by taking our thumb to the middle and ring fingers and leave the index and pinky fingers to dance in the air. It looks like an antelope’s horns. Lopers throw lopes to show our care for one another in our community. If you take that same position and just move the thumb out to the side (middle and ring fingers remain in palm of hand) you will be able to say, “I love you” in American Sign Language. I love YOU for all you do for our community and the children, their families, and our early childhood workforce. Willa Cather said, “Where there is great love, there are always wishes.” My dandelion wish for me and you is that we go together with all our hearts to make the world a better place for children everywhere.

I would like to leave you with some words by Fred Rogers. “In all that you do in all of your life, I wish you the strength and grace to make choices which will allow you and your neighbor to become the best of whoever you are.” xo

Make a wish.

Reflections as an Intentional Practice

Have you ever wondered: “what do I do with the negative thoughts I feel?”

Mr. Fred Rogers asked children a similar question about what children can do with the mad they feel. It is a good question to ask when we are emotionally tasked with a challenging situation. For effective emotion regulation, adults can address negative thoughts and perceptions. Identifying negative thoughts starts with awareness. We can reflect on our negative thoughts to determine how they make us feel (Hole & McEntee, 1999). Stop and take a deep breath (Kamenetz, 2016). Inhale and exhale. Once calm, ponder how the thought makes you feel. What do you have to support or show that the negative thought is valid? Invalid? What could be a more accurate or different way to think about the negative thought? Sometimes we need to change the channel on thoughts like we do with the radio or television.

Compassion fatigue is real and can be a barrier to creating connections. We can address compassion fatigue by starting with ourselves to take time for self-care (Parlakian, Kinsner, & Gehl, 2018). Using praise and positive language is beneficial for children, as well as each other when we collaborate on teams. We can continue to strengthen the ways we build one another up by working on it everyday through communication and positive interactions (Goodwin, 2015; Jennings et al., 2017; Patti et al., 2018). Productive and positive conversations can be a foundation for trusting relationships.

If we create opportunities to practice, reflect, and monitor progress we can continue to get better. High-quality talk is something we can exercise like a muscle. What we practice all the time can become part of a more lasting or permanent repertoire. Practice does NOT make perfect. Instead practice makes permanent. What we practice again and again can stick. Reflect on feelings. Through reflections we can take time to ponder, wonder, and see the world and try to make sense of our feelings.

References

Goodwin, B. (2015). Getting unstuck. Educational Leadership, 72. Retrieved from www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/jun15/vol72/num09/Getting-Unstuck.aspx

Hole, S. & McEntee, G. H. (1999). Reflection is at the heart of practice. Educational Leadership, 56(8). Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may99/vol56/num08/Reflection-Is-at-the-Heart-of-Practice.aspx

Jennings, P.A., Frank, J.L., Doyle, S., Oh, Y., Rasheed, D., DeWeese, A., Cham, H., Brown, J.L., Davis, R., DeMauro, A.A., & Greenberg, M.T. (2017). Impact of the CARE for teachers program on teachers’ social and emotional competence and classroom interactions. Journal of Educational Psychology, 109(7), 1010-28.

Kamenetz, A. (2016). When teachers take a breath, students can bloom. National Public Radio. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/08/19/488866975/when-teachers-take-a-breath-students-can-bloom

Parlakian, R., Kinsner, K., & Gehl, M. (2018). Mindfulness for early childhood professionals. Zero to Three. Retrieved from https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/2269-mindfulness-for-early-childhood-professionals

Patti, J., Holzer, A., Stern, R., Floman, J., & Brackett, M. (2018). Leading with emotional intelligence. Educational leadership, 75. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/summer18/vol75/num09/Leading-With-Emotional-Intelligence.aspx

Motivation

Is there a sense of community and commitment to accomplish goal(s) for the organization? Workplace engagement is worthy of examination. Knowing ourselves is a building block for guiding and supporting organizational purpose.  In the movie “Stand and Deliver,” real life educator Mr. Jaime Escalante tells his students that in order to succeed we all need GANAS.

What is “ganas?” Motivation. Ganas is translated from Spanish to mean a desire to succeed. We need to stay motivated and be intentional in our commitment and purpose.

Questions we can ask ourselves are: do I know my organization’s purpose as well as my own, do I believe the work I do makes a difference, and can I grow and continue to learn new things (Jenkins & Quinn). When we know ourselves we can better connect with our purpose.

Reference:  Jenkins, J., & Quinn, T. (n.d.). Connecting people + purpose. Steelcase. Retrieved from https://www.steelcase.com/research/articles/topics/brand-culture/connecting-people-purpose/

Shaping Norms by Creating an Adaptive Culture

We can shape norms by creating an adaptive culture. Shared leadership can transform and promote advances in our practices (Fitzsimmons, 2016). Explicit or implicit norms exist in early childhood education settings.

Take curriculum for example. An explicit norm may exist where early childhood professionals may be required to follow a specific curriculum that was chosen by someone else. An implicit norm may exist where early childhood professionals are freely using their resources, activities, and materials to enhance the curriculum as they meet external guidelines and standards.

The curriculum example is a form of normalizing risk-taking as early childhood professionals adapt to shaping professional norms. Medvic (2017) states that we want organizations that encourage, “innovation and empowers its people to make decisions.” How we support people to take risks is by creating a culture that fosters exploration and experimentation (Derler, 2017; Gibbs & Irons, 2011). Transformation starts now! Now get out there and go be amazing!

Transformational Practices

Psychological Safety

Early childhood educators are leaders. Learning leadership skills takes time and experience. We can leverage our experiences to continually grow in our professional practices. Effective design and implementation involve an iterative process where we observe, interpret, develop meaning and knowledge, make a plan, and try the plan (Lesaux, 2021). The “TRY” is the implementation part of the plan where we experiment. This Zaentz 5-part learning cycle (Lesaux, 2021) could be used in many ways. I will focus on using this cycle for performance evaluation.

Professionals often engage in evaluations of their performance and benefit from predictable interactions with their supervisors that are built on mutual respect and a caring environment. However, a basic need we have as professionals on a journey toward continuous learning and improvement is psychological safety.

Fran, the site director at You Are My Sunshine Center, was on her way to observe her staff member with little warning or predictable routine. She sprung the observation on her staff member at the last minute. Fran says to her staff words like, “I have to get these observations/paperwork done” and “don’t worry…no pressure.” These statements to her staff member show lack of awareness that this performance evaluation could be causing her staff stress, anxiety, and/or negative feelings.

Psychological safety can be created when we are in tune and responsive to the needs of others. Fran would benefit by observing how her actions and statements are creating a culture of warmth and care that bring out the best in her staff. These interpretations can lead to better understanding and goal setting.

One possible goal for Fran might be to establish a predictable procedure around performance evaluations. For example, she could use a preconference meeting with her staff that happens before the formal observation where staff share the lesson or activity plan prior to the formal observation. This could help staff have more control and help develop rapport between Fran and her team. Once Fran has tried the new performance evaluation plan, she would continue making adjustments as a result of the iterative process of using the learning cycle. Growth can occur when we feel safe in a caring environment. Just like flowers need the right conditions to grow, educators and children need psychological safety in order to thrive.  

Source: Lesaux, N. (2021). Zaentz 5-part learning cycle for effective design and implementation. Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“Hold On, Mr. President!”

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, has recommended that we prepare young people for living in a world of powerful images, words, and sounds. Parents and professionals working with children have a responsibility to help them interpret and create personal meaning. What do we need to know about media that can help our children?

This was a question I asked renowned reporter, ABC news anchor, author of the book "Hold On, Mr. President," and White House correspondent, Mr. Sam Donaldson.

Mr. Sam Donaldson at our state's annual press women conference.

Check out the podcast to hear Mr. Donaldson share his ideas on several topics like: early childhood education, communication, media literacy, asking questions of public officials, and much more. http://www.marisamacy.com/podcast/

Source: Donaldson, S. (1987). Hold On, Mr. President! New York: Random House Inc.

Asking a Favor

How we ask for something many times determines the outcome. I had the good fortune as a child to attend a canoe camp on Orcas Island in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. We paddled our hearts out on trips to Friday Harbor, Orcas, and Jones islands. Back at camp headquarters we had a well-stocked camp store. My parents gave me a little spending money for the store, but the budget evaporated early in my stay. I spent it on candy. What’s a girl to do stuck on an island with no money? I put my stamps and stationery to work—I wrote my parents a letter (this was in the late 70s before cell phones). 

Around the same time a researcher from Harvard, Dr. Ellen Langer, published a paper with her colleagues based on experiments they conducted on how to ask a favor. In their experiment, the researchers set up a copy machine at a university and experimented with different types of favor asking (Langer, Blank, & Chanowitz, 1978). They found  there was greater compliance with small favors compared to big favors. There was also more compliance when a reason was given, rather than no reason or explanation for asking the favor.

I wasn’t reading research from Harvard during camp, but somehow I intuitively knew how to ask my parents for a favor. The letter from camp started by me telling them how much I missed them, and then all the things I was doing at camp. I asked for a modest amount of money so that I could buy materials to make a lanyard key chain. The small favor, paired with a reason for why I needed it, resulted in compliance. Ca-ching! My awesome parental units sent me way more money than I expected.

When we work on a team, we may need to ask team members for a favor. Effective communication can make team work more productive. The next time you need to ask a favor, try applying the Langer principles. You may just get your flashy lanyard in the end.