Rockwood Director is Finalist for Arkansas Directorship

Editor's Note:  VITAL UPDATE TO THIS ARTICLE—Rockwood School District Chief Communications Officer Kim Cranston emailed Eureka-Wildwood Patch at 10:02 a.m. today that Matthew Frederickson had withdrawn from this Arkansas job consideration.

Three people were announced Wednesday as finalists for the director’s position at Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts (ASMSA), after a nationwide search. Matthew Frederickson, Ph.D., director of curriculum, fine arts coordinator, band director and AP music theory teacher for is one of the trio of educators being considered.

ASMSA is a public, residential school for high school juniors and seniors who excel in the study of math and science. One of only 13 similar schools across the country, ASMSA is a campus of the University of Arkansas System and has a current enrollment of 206 students from across the state. The school’s Office of Distance Education also provides K-12 distance education program that serves nearly 3,500 students. The ASMSA Office of Distance Education offers real time, interactive video courses in virtually all disciplines to schools nationwide.

Current ASMSA Director Janet Hugo will retire June 30.

The other two finalists are Corey Alderdice, assistant director for admissions and public relations of The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Bowling Green, KY.; and Marcella Dalla Rosa, Ed.D., dean of students for Pulaski County Special School District in Little Rock, AR.

“The quality of our finalists is a testament to the outstanding work of the students, faculty and staff of ASMA,” University of Arkansas System President Donald Bobbitt stated in the university's announcement.

The candidates next will visit the campus to meet the ASMSA faculty, staff, students and the campus community; each will make a public presentation about their vision for ASMSA on the following dates:

•    April 24 – Marcella Dalla Rosa
•    April 30 – Corey Alderdice
•    May 18 – Matthew Frederickson

Following the visits, Bobbitt will make a recommendation to the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees, who make the final hiring decision.

Candidates' Biographical Information:

Matthew Frederickson, Ph.D., has worked with the Rockwood School District in Missouri since 2003 serving as director of curriculum, fine arts coordinator, band director and AP music theory teacher.

Prior to working at Rockwood, he spent two years as the director of athletic bands and visiting instructor at Ouachita Baptist University. He also has worked as head director of bands for the Union R-XI School District and band director for Gasconade County Schools. He held adjunct positions at Lindenwood University, Webster University, St. Charles Community College, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, St. Louis Symphony Community Music School, The Midwestern Music Camp, and East Central College. Since 2009 he has served on the editorial board of the Missouri Journal of Research in Music Education.

He is an Iraq War veteran having been deployed in 2006. He has served 20 years of combined active and National Guard duty.

Frederickson holds a doctor of philosophy in music education and a specialist in music education, both from the University of Missouri at Columbia, a Master of Science in education administration form Southwest Baptist University and a Bachelor of Music Education and diploma in trombone from Missouri State University.

Corey Alderdice is the assistant director of the Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Bowling Green, KY. Prior to becoming assistant director in 2007, he was the school’s planning coordinator and assisted with recruitment and curriculum development as the Academy was being established.

Since 2003, Alderdice has been owner and publisher of SpeechGeek and SpeechGeek Market, which provides literature and coaching resources for high school speech and debate programs.

Prior to joining the Gatton Academy, Alderdice worked as director of residence life and as a residential counselor at Western Kentucky University’s Center for Gifted Studies. He also was an adjunct instructor at WKU and a camp instructor at WKU Summer Forensic Institute.

He is working on his doctoral degree in postsecondary education leadership through Western Kentucky University. He holds a master’s in English-literature and a Bachelor of Arts in English and religious studies, both from Western Kentucky University.

Marcella Dalla Rosa, Ed.D., has worked as dean of students for Pulaski County Special School District since 2009.

Previously she worked at Arkansas School for the Deaf having served as superintendent, interim superintendent, curriculum director, middle school principal, and state coordinator of educational services for the hearing impaired. She also spent several years working in the Pulaski County Special School District as facilitator for the hearing impaired, staff development instructor and homebound teacher. Earlier in her career she was a Ski-Hi trainer, parent advisor and consultant for the hearing impaired for the Arkansas School for the Deaf. She was also a teacher for the hearing impaired for the Muldrow Public Schools in Oklahoma.

Dalla Rosa holds an Ed.D. in educational administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, a master’s in school counseling from University of Central Arkansas, and a Bachelor of Science degree in deaf education from University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.