An article written by Dr. Sydney Richardson, dean of Salem College's Martha H. Fleer Center for Adult Education, has been published in the Journal of Adult and Continuing Education. The article, entitled “Using Mistreatment to Persist Academically,” is being published both online and in print. According to its website the Journal of Adult and Continuing Education “provides a forum for rigorous theoretical and practical work in the broad fields of lifelong learning and adult, community, and continuing education.” It originates in the U.K. and it is published twice a year.

According to Dr. Richardson, the article is a continuation of previous research she did on college women over the age of twenty-four. “My goal was to tell the stories of women who self-identified as suffering from some kind of mistreatment prior to entering college ( e.g., physical/sexual abuse, emotional abuse, discrimination, neglect, etc.), and to examine how they used those experiences to succeed academically,” she said.  

Dr. Richardson has been a member of the Salem College faculty since 2007. Prior to being appointed dean of the Fleer Center, she served as the director of Salem College's Writing Center and as an instructor for multiple programs, including College Writing, Salem Signature, Education, English, and Women's Studies.

“When I reflect on my career in academia, I realize that working with adult students has been a part of my journey since I began teaching,” she says. “From the first adult learner in my classroom to working in academic support, I have been fascinated by the educational process of of adult learners. More importantly, I've benefited from seeing how adult learners apply their everyday experiences to enhance their college experiences.”

Dr. Richardson holds a bachelor of arts in political science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), a master of arts in English from North Carolina A&T, and a PhD in education studies from UNCG, where her dissertation focused on adult women learners. She has earned certificates in women's and gender studies from UNCG and in teaching English as a second language to adults from Walden University. She has published and presented professionally on the topics of adult learners and writing center direction.