During the workday, Nina Salcedo Potter is COE’s Director of Assessment and Accreditation but at home she milks goats on her farm! Read about her goats and more in this month’s 7 Things You Didn’t Know About the COE Faculty and Staff.
1.
Nina taught preschool
Nina taught preschool in an integrated classroom at the Experimental Education Unit (The Haring Center) at the University of Washington before going back to school for her Ph.D. in Measurement, Statistics and Research Design.
2.
Nina defended her dissertation when she was two months pregnant with her first child.
No one on her committee knew she was pregnant at the time and once they told her she had passed, she surprised them with the great news!
3.
Nina has one son and identical twin daughters.
The twins were Monoamniotic-Monochorionic ("MoMo") twins, meaning they had a single amniotic sac and placenta. Nina spent the last eight weeks of the pregnancy on bed rest in the hospital while her husband took care of their then two-year-old son at home.
4.
Nina lives on four acres with many animals.
Nina and her husband currently live on four acres with their three kids, one dog, two goats, seven hens, one rooster, and two guinea pigs.
5.
Nina milks one of those goats every morning before work!
The goat’s name is Siren and the family makes cheese with the milk.
6.
Nina lived in Peru.
Nina lived in Peru when she was three to seven years old. She started school there and learned to read and write in Spanish as her first language. Sadly, she is no longer fluent in Spanish.
7.
Nina enjoys sewing.
Nina enjoys sewing, but mostly makes pajamas because she doesn’t think she is good enough to wear anything she makes outside of the house.
How Nina is making a difference in the College of Education:
“I am making a difference in the College of Education by working with faculty to design assessments and use the data to continuously improve our academic programs. I am a big believer in the growth mindset and think that by applying those concepts to how we approach our work in the COE everyone benefits: our faculty and staff, our students, and the students and families our graduates serve.”