Dr. Mann retires from EDAD

12 Mar 2019    

After spending years working in education, Dr. Kent Mann said one of the most important lessons he learned is that it should always be about the people.

“Education is about meeting student needs and celebrating student success.  The relationships and the interactions with people make all the difference.”

Mann’s life has always been rooted in education. As he was once a student in a one-room country school, he said his greatest influencers were educators.

“They modeled passion, commitment, and the importance of doing something that you loved to do as a profession as well as something that would make a difference,” Mann said.

His teaching career began as a 5th-6th grade teacher in the Wilber-Clatonia Public Schools and he taught in Columbus and Wymore, NE. Then he moved into administration as an elementary principal for 2 years and a middle school principal for 2 more years in Hutchinson, KS.

He served as the high school principal and the superintendent of Wahoo Public Schools and was also the principal at Lexington High School. He then was the Grand Island High School principal for 19 more years before coming to UNL for the next eight years.

While at UNL, Mann said he had many opportunities to stretch his thinking, defend his personal and professional values and beliefs, and always continue to learn.

“My experience has been a positive challenge,” Mann said. “An opportunity for unique professional growth, and a most satisfying culmination of my career as an educator.”

Mann taught teaching assignments at the graduate level in the PreK-12 EDAD program, including Instructional Leadership, Critical Issues in Education, Personalized Professional Development and many more.

Mann was also promoted to Full Professor of Practice in Educational Administration with Graduate Status in 2017.

When he retires, Mann said he plans to sit on the back porch and sip ice tea and just contemplate life, while also spending time with his eight grandchildren, fishing and hunting a lot, and traveling a bit more with his wife.