Sherry M. Cleary
University Dean of Early Childhood Initiatives at the City University of New York & Executive Director of the New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute
Sherry M. Cleary is the University Dean of Early Childhood Initiatives at the City University of New York and the Executive Director of the New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute. She leads the work of a dynamic, intelligent, and passionate team dedicated to building essential systems to insure a highly effective early childhood workforce for the state of New York, to guarantee that young children have access to excellence. Her work also focuses on how colleges and universities can build more effective early childhood programs as well as campus children’s programs. She oversees the NYC Early Childhood Research Network, CUNY’s 16 campus child care centers, the state’s early childhood workforce system known as New York Works For Children, the state’s quality rating and improvement system - QUALITYstarsNY, and a wide range of other initiatives. Sherry co-chairs the Governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council. Ms. Cleary has worked in the field of early childhood education as a classroom teacher, a program administrator, and as both a faculty member and higher education administrator at Erie Community College, the University of Pittsburgh and now, CUNY. She has extensive experience in inner cities and rural communities. Sherry has served on several Boards of Directors and College Advisory Boards as well as presided over national and regional membership organizations.
