Sheryl Chard

Sheryl Chard is the founding director of the Sofia Center for Professional Development in Albuquerque, New Mexico. From 1998-2013, Sheryl served as the first head of middle school at Bosque School’s middle school in Albuquerque and had the wonderful opportunity to collaborate with colleagues to build a thriving middle school of 250 students and 35 faculty members. In 2013, after several years of designing and planning, Sheryl became the full-time director of the Sofia Center for Professional Development.

The Sofia Center is the manifestation of many of Sheryl’s passions – her love of working with educators; her commitment to lifelong intellectual inquiry; and her desire to create innovative and beautiful spaces in which people can work collaboratively, think outside the box, and stay true to the heart of teaching and learning. She is an experienced program, retreat, and workshop leader who has designed a wide range of inspirational offerings for teachers and education leaders from over 300 schools and organizations.

Sheryl earned her B.A. in English from Trinity University and her M.A. in Women’s Studies from George Washington University. In 2004-05, she was a Klingenstein Fellow at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she spent a year researching and writing about what constitutes meaningful professional development for educators.