NYSPEP MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: LIZ HOOD

NYSPEP Member Spotlight: Liz Hood

Liz Hood serves on the NYSPEP Steering Committee, is Co-chair of the Professional Development Workgroup, and an active member of the Marketing and Communications Workgroup.

She is Director, Office of Educational TV and Public Broadcasting for the NYS Education Development, located in Albany, New York. In addition to supporting the work of public television stations' educational activities, she is actively engaged in the effort to improve the learning environment for infants and toddlers at home and in child care settings.

Prior to joining NYS Education Department, Liz served as Senior Vice President, Education Activities at WMHT Educational Telecommunications. Her early career was in book selling and publishing.

Liz is a current Board Member of United Way of New York State and serves as the Board Chair of 2-1-1 New York, Inc. She also serves on the NYS Early Childhood Advisory Committee.

Liz attended Skidmore College where she studied English and Secondary Education and earned a Bachelors degree. Liz's core expertise includes management and governance.

In her personal time, Liz enjoys reading, music and knitting. She is a singer and recording artist with the trio Huxtable Christensen & Hood. The trio's two albums are "Wallflowers" (Philo Records) and "Melancholy Babies" (Front Hall Records).

NYSPEP MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: MARY HAUST

NYSPEP represents collaboration between qualified parenting educators and organization that employ, fund, and support the educators. NYSPEP applauds leaders in the field. Individuals who are new to or planning to enter the field are encouraged to join NYSPEP in preparation to become tomorrow's leaders. 

NYSPEP Member Spotlight: Mary Haust

Mary Haust currently serves on the NYSPEP Steering Committee. She previously worked in the Binghamton City School District for 23 years, retiring in 2004. In her tenure at the District, she served as Director of the PACT (Parents and Children Together) Program, Community Schools, Youth at Risk, Even Start, Healthy Families and Broome Community Partners.

Since 1993, she has been a National, International and State Trainer for Parents as Teachers National Center providing training to over 2000 parent educators. In addition to parent education training and technical assistance with a number of early education and parenting programs in New York State, Mary has served as a writer of training modules and parent education lesson plans for New York State’s Even Start program. She is also a contributing writer for Week by Week, Plans for Documenting Children’s Development, Sixth Edition by Barbara Ann Nilsen (2012), the Parent Guide currently being prepared for the NYSPEP New Parent Kit, and the recently released Texas Learning Pathways.

Ms. Haust served as a Middle States Commissioner of Elementary Education and continues to serve on the Middle States Early Education Advisory Board. In addition, she currently serves on the Steering Committee for Coalition for Family Engagement, an outgrowth of PIRC initiative in New York State.

She has received a number of honors including: "Friend of the Family", New York State Association of American Family and Consumer Sciences, 1995; "Friend of the Child Award", BAEYC, 1997, New York State Award; William J. Bub Award for Advocacy and Leadership, 1997; Binghamton University Alumni-in Residence Honor, 1998; Cindy Chaplin Award for Advocacy for Children, 1999; Binghamton City School District’s Distinguished Graduate Honoree: 2002. 

Mary is married…the wife of one, mother of four and most enjoyably, grandmother of ten!