Instructional Specialist
Alexis Leitgeb started her career after college in journalism. She worked for several newspapers and magazines before heading to Hong Kong for business with her family. There Dr. Leitgeb was a magazine senior editor when the International School contacted her about teaching English to middle school students. In spite of not having any teaching experience, she was hired and taught there for six years starting in 1988 and has been in education ever since. During that time she decided her true calling was in education so she returned to school to obtain a teaching certificate and license in Illinois. Dr. Leitgeb developed the curriculum for a Creative English class and a Drama class at the Hong Kong International School.
After receiving her Masters Degree in Counseling from the University of Missouri, Dr. Leitgeb took a job as a middle school history teacher in Illinois. The school wanted to start a counseling program so the next year she developed a PreK-8 counseling program and served as the school’s first counselor. De. Leitgeb wrote a SUCCEED program for parents, teachers, and students for after school continuing education. She also started a Mother-Daughter Book Club to promote reading with family along with a Character Counts program.
Dr. Leitgeb became a copy editor for the National Middle School Magazine (NMSA) and worked part-time from her home for three years. She was also hired as an adjunct professor at Concordia University in River Forest, Illinois in the psychology department where she worked from 1997-2004. Dr. Leitgeb attended DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois where she completed her doctoral coursework. Research for her dissertation focused on Latino learning styles. In addition she completed her general administrative and superintendent training. She is licensed in both areas. Alexis moved to an urban high school outside of Chicago and entered the world of administration in 2000 as a Dean of Students and then as an Assistant Principal.
Dr. Leitgeb’s final move before joining NUA was to a K-8 western Chicago suburban school with high levels of diversity. She was an assistant principal of this school in 2001 and became Principal in 2002 where she worked until retiring in 2006 to join the NUA. She is happy to be a full-time member of the NUA faculty because it takes her back to the classroom where children learn and children is what education is all about.
Alexis Leitgeb
a_leitgeb@nuatc.org