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Biography: Cyndie Shepard

Cyndie Shepard, wife of Western Washington University president, Bruce Shepard, is currently the volunteer director of the Compass 2Campus Program at Western. Compass 2 Campus is a pilot mentoring initiative that involves WWU students and faculty in collaboration with Whatcom and Skagit county school districts, and WCC, BTC, SVC and NWIC. The program, launched in 2009, encourages students to graduate from high school and move on to higher education. It does so by bringing students from at-risk schools to the WWU campus as fifth graders and by providing positive role models, tutoring and mentoring to them until 12th grade. This initiative is similar to a program she co-founded and created in Wisconsin.

Cyndie served as director and co-founder of the Phuture Phoenix Program at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. The award-winning program, launched in 2003, continues to be successful on the UW-Green Bay campus and has been transported to UW-Eau Claire this past year, as well.

In addition to her work with Compass 2 Campus, Cyndie teaches in the dance program at Western, is co-president of the University's chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi honor society, and is a board member for Communities in Schools and the GRADS Program in Bellingham. Previously in Green Bay, she had also volunteered her time and energy to the United Way, Scholarships Inc., St. Mary's Hospital, ASPIRO (Brown County Association for Retarded Citizens), and the North East Wisconsin Dance Organization.

Cyndie has been an instructor in the Education and Theatre programs at UW-Green Bay and has taught in several universities and colleges across the nation including Murray State University, Eastern Oregon University, and Blue Mountain Community College. She has a bachelor's degree in psychology from California State University, Fullerton, and a master's degree in psychology from Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles, and extensive teaching certification in P-12 education, special education and administration from UC Irvine.

• Western Washington University
• Bellingham, Washington