Chair Bio

 

Deborah A. Glisson
2020-2023 Chair Empire Multi-District Presidents Elect Training Seminar
2024 – 2025 Muti-District PETS Alliance Chair
RLI-NEA Executive Director

 

Deb was born and raised in Camillus, New York. She has an adult son, Brad, who lives with his wife and 2 daughters in San Diego California. He is serving our country as a submariner  on the USS Santa Fee. Deb has 2 older siblings, Dori and Allan. They live in Georgia and Florida, respectively.  

Deb became an active member of the Marcellus Rotary Club in 2004. She served as Club President in 2007-2008, the 50th anniversary year for the club.  Deb became the Assistant Governor for Rotary District 7150 Area 7 in July 2009. Deb was selected District 7150 Governor for the Rotary year 2014-2015.

Deb has served on the Empire Multi-District President Elects Training Seminar Committee since 2009. She has held the position of Assistant Secretary, Vice Chair and is currently concluding her third year as Chair of that Committee. Deb looks forward to being  appointed Chair of MD PETS Alliance 2024-2025.

In August 2010, Deb was trained as a faculty member for the Rotary Leadership Institute.  Since then, she has facilitated at several RLI sights each spring and fall, served as District 7150 RLI-NEA Site Chair, RLI-NEA Regional Vice Chair and RLI-NEA Vice Chair – Northern Areas. Currently, she serves as the Executive Director for the Rotary Leadership Institute Northeast America. 

Deb is honored to serve on the District 7150 Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) Committee. She shares her leadership expertise with the student attendees each summer. She fosters the student in gaining increased understanding of their own leadership styles.  
In February 2006 Deb traveled to Coquimbo and La Serena, Chile, as a member of a Rotary District 7150 team that trained Chilean teachers of the English Language how to incorporate several instructional strategies that would improve their teaching skills and ultimately the English language learning of their students. In April of that same year, she had an opportunity to return to Chile to visit the classrooms of those teachers she had worked with and to witness firsthand the improved instruction and positive student learning outcomes. 

Deb has a strong belief in life-long learning. She graduated from West Genesee Senior High School with a Regents Diploma, Onondaga Community College with an A.A. degree in Liberal Arts Humanities, SUNY Geneseo with a B.A. in Secondary English Education, SUC Cortland with Permanent Certification in Secondary English Education, SUC Cortland with a M.S. in Health Education, SUNY Oswego with a C.A.S. in Educational Administration, and SUNY Oswego with advanced study in the Superintendent Development Program. 

In 2019, Deb retired as the Director of Staff Development and Training of the Marcellus Central School District.  In that role, she planned and delivered in-service workshops for administrators and teachers regarding pertinent curriculum, instruction, and assessment initiatives and strategies. As a former secondary English teacher for the Onondaga Central School District, Deb was the chief editor responsible for the publication of the Project S.H.A.R.E. monograph, a compilation of reports concerning Action Research conducted by staff members of the Marcellus Central School District and individuals conducting research studies at the graduate level of local universities. Deb was trained as a SACI (School Alliance for Continuous Improvement) external evaluation team member in 1996 and as a Team Leader in 2010. Over the past decade, she has actively participated on several SACI review teams and as a SACI Team Leader throughout New York State. Deb has also served as a team member for Middle States reviews of school districts.  Recently, she has supported local school districts in assessing their work toward continuous improvement.

 

One of Deb’s fondest Rotary memories is of the day, May 2, 2011, when she completed a marathon on rollerblades to raise sponsorship funds toward the Rotary Polio Plus efforts to eradicate polio. Deb’s father was a polio survivor. May 2nd would have been her father’s birthday.  Through that experience, she found personal meaning and fact in the notion that one person can truly make a difference!