Keystone Central Foundation Alumni & Friends Introduce Honorees for Hall of Fame 

The Keystone Central Foundation Alumni & Friends Association is pleased to introduce each inductee into the 2024 class of the Keystone Central Hall of Fame.

Inductees will be honored at a ceremony at Central Mountain High School on Tuesday, April 30 at 5:30 PM. Tickets, congratulatory messages, and ads can be purchased for the event program at www.kcfoundation.com or calling 570-660-1306. The ceremony will also honor the Keystone Central Foundation’s Friends of the Foundation Giving Society and key community partnerships.

Inductee: Dr. Sue Kodad-Rex, B.E.N. Class of 1968

How do you work to solve the issue of teacher recruitment and retention in rural public schools? 

How do you pull together local leaders, legislators, industries, banks, non-profits, and others in the school community to work collaboratively on a solution?

For Fairfield County School District’s Education Foundation in Winnsboro, South Carolina, the answer is simple. Find an innovative and passionate leader like Dr. Sue Rex, a Bald Eagle Nittany Class of 1968 graduate, to lead the way. 

Later this summer South Carolina’s first residential teacher community will officially open. The Fairfield Teacher Community will provide affordable new construction housing close to schoolgrounds. It will offer a collaborative environment to mentor and support teachers throughout the district. The program is on track to serve as a model for other communities who are working to reduce the unmet needs of educators, especially those who are new to the profession. 

Dr. Sue Rex has always wanted to be a teacher and has truly dedicated her career to the profession. She has her BS in Education from Lock Haven University, her MS from Bloomsburg, and a doctorate from the University of South Carolina in Special Education/Administration. She retired in 2022 as an Emeritus Professor from Winthrop University, South Carolina where she taught at the Richard W. Riley College of Education. 

Over her career she has authored 15 books for elementary and middle school children, parents, and counselors dealing with a variety of social issues affecting children today.  She has received many awards and accolades including President George Bush Sr.’s Point of Light Award for Public Service in 1992, The South Carolina Counselors’ Humanitarian Award in 1998, and the South Carolina Women in Leadership Award in 2023. 

Dr. Sue Rex is married to Dr. James Rex, former dean of education at Winthrop University and the State Superintendent of Education for South Carolina.  Together they opened the James and Susan Rex Institute for Educational Renewal and Partnership in 2010. The Rex Institute at Winthrop University works with school districts across the state to promote both collaboration and innovation. Through the Institute, Dr. Sue Rex initiated “Leading the Way,” a statewide annual recognition for teacher mentors in the public schools, which helps early career classroom teachers succeed and remain in teaching. 

Dr. Sue Rex has been involved with many boards and organizations. She was elected for two terms to the Winthrop University Board of Trustees by the South Carolina legislature. She was board chair from 2008-2016 to the South Carolina Campaign to prevent Teen Pregnancy. Currently she is the Chair of the Fairfield County School District Education Foundation and serves as Secretary for the Winthrop University Foundation. She is also one of 100 Founding Members of the organization South Carolina Women Lead. Dr. Sue Rex lives in Fairfield County, SC with her husband. She has four children and ten grandchildren.

Full tributes for all inductees can be found at kcfoundation.com. Others honored in the Class of 2024 include: 

Alison Bechdel, Martha Sykes, Sr., Michael K. Hanna, Sr., and Judith Laubscher Sensenbrenner