Nationally recognized education veteran Jonathan Sheahen has
been named Lipscomb Academy elementary school principal in a joint announcement
from L. Randolph Lowry, Lipscomb university president, and Mike Hammond,
university vice president and Lipscomb Academy headmaster.
Sheahen, mathematics faculty team leader at Nashville’s
Harding Academy, brings a variety of teaching experience that has been
recognized by his peers and by the White House to the Lipscomb Academy
administrative team. He was selected as part of a rigorous national search and
selection process and will assume the duties of principal on June 15.
“Jonathan Sheahen is an enthusiastic educator, committed
Christian and brings tremendous credentials and experience with him. In our
exhaustive search for a new principal, we looked for someone who would not only
model Christ’s love of people and teaching them, but also model a hunger for
developing each pupil to his or her potential as a student and as a future man
or woman of God. We believe we have found that person,” said L. Randolph Lowry,
Lipscomb University president.
In 2010, Sheahen was one of 85 mathematics and sciences
teachers across the country honored by President Barack Obama with the
prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science
Teaching. He was honored at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.
Sheahen has been a member of the faculty at Harding Academy
since 2004. Last year he received Harding Academy’s Ed and Hattie Stuart Spirit
Award as Teacher of the Year. For the past five years he has served as a
teacher and advisory team member for the Vanderbilt Program for Talented Youth.
“Jonathan not only has rich professional experience but also
the heart and mind to help our students grow academically and has a great
passion to nurture the spiritual environment at Lipscomb,” said Mike Hammond,
university vice president and headmaster for Lipscomb Academy.
His faculty experience includes teaching positions in Tampa,
Fla.; Portland, Ore.; and Hillsboro School in Franklin, Tenn. In addition to
classroom work, Jonathan has coached middle school volleyball, soccer, softball
and tennis. He has participated in a variety of professional development
programs such as the College of William and Mary’s Integrated Curriculum Model,
the University of Connecticut’s Project M3, Harvard University’s Project Zero
Classroom and WIDE World as well as participating in the Everyday Mathematics
Leadership Institute. Sheahen is also a frequent speaker at conferences and
workshops hosted by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the
Tennessee Association of Independent Schools.
Sheahen holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in elementary
education from Western Kentucky University and a Master of Education degree in
educational leadership from Trevecca. He and his wife, Shawna, have three sons,
Eli, 8 and twins, Silas and Cooper, 6. They are members of Broadmoor Church of
Christ, where Sheahen is a deacon.
