Donald Yates

Donald Yates was born in Jersey City, NJ and graduated from the Choate School in Wallingford, CT in 1958. He then attended the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN where he graduated in 1962 with a B.A. degree in English. A short time later, Don joined the United States Peace Corps as an "early" volunteer and served in the Philippine Islands from 1962-1964 as an educator and administrator in a rural community. Upon returning to the United States, he met and married his beautiful wife, ...See more

Donald Yates was born in Jersey City, NJ and graduated from the Choate School in Wallingford, CT in 1958. He then attended the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN where he graduated in 1962 with a B.A. degree in English. A short time later, Don joined the United States Peace Corps as an "early" volunteer and served in the Philippine Islands from 1962-1964 as an educator and administrator in a rural community. Upon returning to the United States, he met and married his beautiful wife, "Penny" (Mary Elizabeth Kelly), while beginning his career as an educator teaching English and reading at various private and public schools in northern NJ. He began his administrative work in the Irvington, NJ public schools where he was a Coordinator and a Curriculum Supervisor for nine years. During this time, Don earned his Master's degree in English from Seton Hall University, a Master's degree in Secondary Reading Education from Jersey City State College (now New Jersey City University), and both a third Master's degree and a doctorate in Educational Administration both from Columbia University. In 1985 Don became a Vice Principal at Millburn High School and then in 1989 became Principal of Leonia High School where he served for nine years before retiring from public education to pursue further administrative work in New Jersey higher education positions as first an Assistant Professor, then an Associate Professor, at Jersey City State College, Caldwell College (now University), and Georgian Court College (now University). He completed his education career as an Adjunct Professor at Brookdale Community College in 2018 after 56 years in education. Throughout his long and distinguished career, Don presented materials at many national conferences and conventions, many of these based upon his life-long personal interests of innovative, child-centered educational programs and "Best Practice" concepts involving advanced teacher development and training. He also published a book, Good Business Sense for Doing Good Business, a number of articles, and other literature concerning teacher certification, clinical practices, and accelerated teacher preparation programs. He and his wife, Penny, reside in Shrewsbury, NJ in close proximity to their son and daughter and their four grandchildren. See less