The PAF Program is excited to welcome Mae Cooper as our new Professional Development Advisor, joining Toby Davidow and the rest of the PAF Advising Team in guiding the career and professional development activities for fellows. Mae is currently working for the Division of Development and Alumni Relations as the Learning and Development Manager. As a trainer and facilitator with 12 years of experience, she uses collaborative and interactive approaches to learning and meeting design. Mae graduated from GW with a Bachelor of Arts in political communication. She also holds a Master of Education in community development from Vanderbilt University.
PAFs have already had the pleasure of working with Mae during their Spring Training and recent weekly meetings. We look forward to what is sure to be a promising future with Mae as a member of the Advising Team and hope to introduce her to the wider alumni community at upcoming events.
As much as we are excited to welcome Mae to the PAFamily, it is a bittersweet moment, as we bid “farewell” to Sara Melita who served as the founding Professional Development Advisor for the PAF program. Sara has been given the tremendous opportunity to serve as Senior Advisor and Chief of Staff in the Office of the Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences. The PAFamily is incredibly proud of Sara and we look forward to having her facilitate ad hoc professional development sessions in the future.
Beginning in 2009, Sara provided expertise and insight to the PAF program while serving on the then-PAF Advisory Council and on the PAF 2020 Task Force Committee. More recently, Sara worked with recent PAFs to establish the PAF professional development program and has supported several cohorts of PAFs. We will always be grateful for Sara’s efforts, which have enhanced the PAF program and have enriched the experiences of PAFs. The competency-based PAF professional development program would not be as impactful as it is today without Sara’s leadership. e also look forward to seeing the great things Mae does.