Alumni News
Dale C. Kalkofen – 2011 Alumni Star from the VCU School of Education By the time Dr. Dale C. Kalkofen joins the other Virginia Commonwealth University 2011 Alumni Stars at a reception in October, she will have traveled a great distance. Whether calculating the distance she drives from her sprawling country home in Powhatan or measuring her more than 30-year career that has taken her from Richmond to Boston, Memphis, Japan, China, Arlington and back to Richmond, Dr. Kalkofen has had a long journey indeed.
Dale Kalkofen received her Master of Education degree from the VCU School of Education. She received her Doctor of Education degree from the College of William and Mary and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Mary Washington College.
Dr. Kalkofen recently retired from her position as assistant superintendent for instruction with Chesterfield County Public Schools. Throughout her career, she has been responsible for school reform, innovation and the redesign of programs and schools. “I’ve found making the work fun and personally rewarding builds enthusiasm that sustains the work,” she said. “This combination of making work meaningful for the individual and reaching the goals of the organization produced great work.” “Great work” is a modest statement coming from a person whose long list of achievements and awards includes working on national school reform initiatives at the Annenberg Institute’s Task Force on Creating Smart School Districts, the National Advisory Task Force for Vocational Education through the U.S. Department of Education, the Institute for Educational Leadership, the Southern Regional Education Board and New American Schools. In 1993, Dr. Kalkofen, a Richmond native, left her position as principal of Mary Mumford Elementary School to work with Boston Public Schools. While in Boston, she had oversight of 80 schools. In 1996, Dr. Kalkofen joined Memphis City Schools where she served as the associate superintendent of school reform. The scope of her work both in Boston and Memphis was often on a national and even an international level, leading Dr. Kalkofen to travel to Japan and China to study their educational systems, and sending her on frequent trips to Washington, D.C. She returned to Virginia when she accepted the position of vice president for district services for New American Schools in Arlington. Dr. Kalkofen joined the Chesterfield County Public School System in 2001.
24 The Bridge • Fall 2011
Dr. Kalkofen enthusiastically credits her education at the VCU School of Education as a catalyst in her career. “Before I began my graduate work at VCU, I was an art teacher in Richmond City Public Schools,” she recalled. “I supervised student teachers from the art education department. At that time, there were three professors in the Art Education Department named Al: Al Shantz, Al Landis and Al Lewis. I had never considered working on a higher education degree until Al Lewis asked me, ‘Where did you get your master’s?’ I told him I didn’t have a master’s and he invited me to consider doing coursework in the Art Education Department. I began my coursework there and actually completed all the requirements for a master’s in art education when I decided to switch to the School of Education. Dr. Willie Bost worked with me to use my art education courses as electives and I completed all the requirements for the degree in curriculum and instruction and became certified in supervision in August of 1976.” That fall, Dr. Kalkofen was hired as the administrator and supervisor for arts and humanities for Richmond Public Schools, a position she held for the next 10 years. “Professors at the School of Education were wonderful, professional, interested in my day-to-day job responsibilities and enthusiastic about building connections between academics and teaching and learning,” she said. Over the course of her career, Dr. Kalkofen participated in numerous professional organizations, including the American Association of School Administrators, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the Horace Mann League, the International Reading Association and Phi Delta Kappa. After she returned to the Richmond area, Dr. Kalkofen embraced her alma mater and remains an engaged alumna whose leadership skills are invaluable and whose passion for education and love for VCU are contagious. She is the immediate past president of the School of Education’s Alumni Council and presently serves on the board of the VCU Alumni Association. In retirement, Dr. Kalkofen spends time rekindling her artistic talents and recently has taken up portrait painting. She enjoys gardening and spending time at Shadow Lawn Farm, a property she and her late husband, Dr. Ulrich P. Kalkofen, purchased in 2002.