{"id":11992,"date":"2026-06-18T08:10:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/?p=11992"},"modified":"2026-06-18T08:25:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:25:58","slug":"assistant-principal-returns-from-japan-for-sau-doctoral-commencement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/2026\/assistant-principal-returns-from-japan-for-sau-doctoral-commencement\/","title":{"rendered":"Assistant principal returns from Japan for SAU doctoral commencement"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Catherine Mince receiving Ed.D. degree<\/p><\/div>\n

Southern Arkansas University held its second commencement ceremony for the Doctor of Education in Rural and Diverse Educational Leadership program on May 9, 2026. Five students graduated this spring, including Catherine Mince, who traveled nearly 30 hours from Sasebo, Japan, to participate in the ceremony.<\/p>\n

Mince is an SAU alumna who earned bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and history, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Education with a secondary education emphasis, in 1997. She later earned a Master of Education in curriculum and instruction from SAU in 2010.<\/p>\n

She has spent 29 years in education, teaching in a wide variety of settings ranging from a one-room, dirt-floor schoolhouse in the hills of Guatemala to an urban high school serving more than 2,000 students in Arkansas. Her career has taken her across multiple states and countries, including Texas, California, Arkansas, Guatemala, Japan and Bahrain. She has taught students from kindergarten through postsecondary levels and previously taught medical Spanish at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.<\/p>\n

For the past 16 years, Mince has worked with the Department of Defense Education Activity in Japan and Bahrain, teaching social studies and serving in leadership positions including school improvement chair, department chair and professional development chair. She currently serves as assistant principal at E.J. King Middle High School in Sasebo, Japan, located on a U.S. Navy installation.<\/p>\n

Mince shared, “The Ed.D. program at SAU helped me grow from an experienced educator into a more effective educational leader. It strengthened my ability to use research to examine policy, make informed decisions, and support meaningful change in schools. Most importantly, it gave me the skills and confidence to better serve students, teachers, and school communities. Being called Dr. Mince is also pretty cool.”<\/p>\n

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Catherine Mince<\/p><\/div>\n

Dr. Cort Casey, associate professor and research methodologist in the Rural and Diverse Educational Leadership Ed.D. program, served as Mince’s advisor throughout her doctoral studies.<\/p>\n

Casey noted, “Cat Mince was an excellent doctoral student. She approached her work in the Ed.D. program with energy, a natural sense of curiosity, optimism and tenacity. Cat possesses a growth mindset and is not afraid to ask for help or guidance when needed. She treats everyone she encounters with kindness and empathy. The attributes that make her a great educator also made her a successful doctoral student, and SAU should be proud to call her ‘one of our own.'”<\/p>\n

The Ed.D. program at SAU is delivered fully online and provides advanced training in research and practice for professionals holding or seeking leadership positions in rural schools, colleges, universities, and community or government agencies. The program can be completed in approximately 3.5 years and consists of 60 credit hours.<\/p>\n

For more information about the Ed.D. program, contact Dr. Clinton Petty, associate professor of doctoral studies, director of the Ed.D. program and chair of the Department of Doctoral Studies, or visit saumag.edu\/edd\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

About SAU:<\/strong>
\nSouthern Arkansas University provides students with the complete college experience in a caring environment of service, innovation, and community. With more than 100 degrees across four distinct colleges and the School of Graduate Studies, SAU initiates new degree programs to meet the needs of today’s career and professional trends. To learn more about SAU, visit www.saumag.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Southern Arkansas University held its second commencement ceremony for the Doctor of Education in Rural and Diverse Educational Leadership program on May 9, 2026. Five students graduated this spring, including Catherine Mince, who traveled nearly 30 hours from Sasebo, Japan, to participate in the ceremony. Mince is an SAU alumna who earned bachelor’s degrees in… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":11995,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[272,181,33,7753],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-archives","category-education","category-graduate-studies","category-homepage","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11992"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11998,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11992\/revisions\/11998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}