Dr. Walter John Doherty II is an experienced professional educator. He has had and extensive career spanning over 50 years representing continual growth in both the field of education and in school leadership. His career has included having served as a teacher, assistant principal, high school principal, K-12 principal, superintendent of schools for three different school districts and topping his career off with twelve years’ experience as a university professor. His school and school district teaching and leadership experience has been with schools in New York State and his university service was for St. Leo University, in Dade City, Florida and the University of Central Florida in Orlando.
Dr. Doherty’s educational preparation includes earning as associates degree in banking, insurance and real estate, from Mohawk Valley Community College, a bachelor’s degree in business education from the University of Buffalo, a master’s degree in curriculum & instruction from Oswego State University as well as a Ph. D in Educational Administration & Policy Studies from the University of Albany.
Through his involvement with the Florida based Council for Educational Change, Dr. Doherty served as a mentor for assistant principal and principal forums and instructional leadership academies involving school leadership teams (principal, assistant principal and teacher leader), that included many schools from across the State of Florida.
An example of Dr. Doherty’s experience with developing collaborative activities is that he served as the chairperson for the Central New York Education Consortium on Professional Development. The Consortium is responsible for facilitating professional development activities involving the faculties of seven colleges and universities and the teachers and administrators representing forty school districts.
In the area of community building, Dr. Doherty served as chairperson for the Schoharie County Community Services Coordinating Council, a county-wide organization responsible for the coordination of community base services among Twenty-five county agencies and seven school districts. He has received the Oneida Shores Rotary Vocational Service Award and the Central New York Tech Prep Consortium Service Award for his contribution to the career internship program. The Fort Brewerton Chamber of Commerce named him “Citizen of the Year”. However, the recognition Dr. Doherty is most proud of was being named “Administrator of the Year” by the New York State Student Association. To receive statewide recognition from the state’s students while serving as a superintendent of schools, is something he will always cherish.
While serving as a superintendent of schools, Dr. Doherty was a member of the Board of Directors for Syracuse University’s College of Education School Study Council. He has been active with the New York State School Boards Association, Central New York School Boards Association and the New York State Council of School Superintendents. Dr. Doherty served as a member of NYSCSS’s House of Delegates. He represented the state’s superintendents as a member of the advisory council to the New York State Commissioner of Education, having had the opportunity to provide direct input and feedback on state-wide issues and pending state-wide policy decisions.
Dr. Doherty recently retired after serving twelve years as a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership for the University of Central Florida where he taught courses in organization and administration of schools, educational systems planning and the politics, financing and governance of educational organizations. In addition to his teaching and student advisory duties, Dr. Doherty has served as the coordinator for the Educational Specialist Program and Doctoral Studies Program.
Dr. Doherty has four children, all of which he had the honor to present with their high school diplomas. He and his wife Beth, a retired art teacher, share their time between the Adirondacks of northern New York State and New Smyrna Beach, Florida where he is now a member of the Florida Writers Association as a fiction writer, and Beth is a practicing artist.
