Dr. Cindy Yelick Named Associate Administrator

It is my pleasure to announce Dr. Cindy Yelick has been promoted to the position of Associate Administrator at Heartland AEA. Dr. Yelick has a distinguished career as an educational leader. Her experiences include serving as an instructor in classrooms from Korea to Texas to Iowa and in various leadership positions in schools, Heartland AEA, the Iowa Department of Education and Drake University. Dr. Yelick holds degrees from the University of Northern Iowa, the University of Houston and Drake University with emphases in educational leadership, curriculum and instruction, elementary education and second language education. These varied experiences and areas of study inform her leadership and ability to advocate for all students. 

In addition to her current duties as an executive director at Heartland AEA, Dr. Yelick has been instrumental in the development of the framework known as Collaborating for Iowa Kids (C4K). As a co-lead for the C4K work, Dr. Yelick has helped provide the vision as well as the practical guidance needed as the Iowa Department of Education and the AEA system have worked along side local schools to utilize a collaborative framework for implementing Iowa’s education reform initiatives. Dr. Yelick’s leadership has been especially key to the expanded efforts in schools to use multi-tiered systems of support with an emphasis in early literacy. 

Dr. Yelick’s peers describe her as an individual with the ability to get at the heart of improving student achievement through her view of the bigger picture and consideration of possibilities from multiple perspectives. Her pragmatic leadership style and deep understanding of instructional leadership are strengths that will help accelerate our work as an agency. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Yelick. 

Paula