Staff Bios
Diane Long, Grants Developer
Diane comes to Alignment after more than 30 years in the complementary fields of communication and education. As a veteran journalist, she has earned national recognition for her coverage of education, including a series on No Child Left Behind. She has also worked with the communication department of Metro Schools to further her goal of helping the public understand the challenges and accomplishments of public education. Diane is a certified secondary English teacher, with a BA degree from Peabody College of Education, and is just two classes away from a Masters Degree in Educational Administration at Tennessee State University.
Alene Weber Arnold, Associate Director
After serving on several Alignment Nashville and Metro Schools’ committees, Alene has joined Alignment Nashville as the Associate Director, Grade-Level Committees. She has served on such committees as Parent University, Nashville Chamber Report Card, Hillsboro Cluster, and the MNPS Strategic Planning Action Team. She has been a 7th Grade teacher and most recently a part-time teacher and stay-at-home mother of four children. She has a Masters Degree in Elementary Education (MED) (Peabody College) and a Masters Degree of Theological Studies (MTS) from Vanderbilt University.
Melissa Jaggers, Grants Developer
Melissa came to Alignment Nashville after serving as Director of Grant Development at Nashville State Community College for six years, where she worked to secure several federally funded grants from the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Education, and other sources. She also served as Nashville State’s Director of Development, raising private funds for the institution and working with the Nashville State Foundation. Previously, Melissa was Director of Marketing at the Renaissance Center in Dickson, Tennessee, and Account Manager at Fletcher & Rowley Political Consulting. Melissa holds a BA in Political Science from Western Kentucky University.
Jeffrey Dotts, Director, Children's Health Initiative
Jeff spent 10 years working with the Association of Hole in the Wall Gang Camps, year-round, psycho-social development programs for children and families of children affected by chronic and life-threatening illness. He designed and developed programs in Florida, Illinois, Ireland, France, and Botswana to address the myriad needs of children facing a lifetime of obstacles due to illness. For the past two and one half years, Jeff worked with Adventureworks, Inc. designing team development programs, facilitating results-focused strategy sessions, and delivering strengths-based workshops for non- and for-profit organizations and companies internationally. He continues to develop teacher education programs for community-based resource centers in Mozambique, Botswana, and South Africa. Jeff holds a BA in Secondary Education from Prescott College (AZ) and a Master of Education in Foundations, Leadership, and Policy of Education from the University of Virginia. He is married to Erin Albers, MD, a pediatric cardiology fellow at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.
Sydney Rogers, Executive Director
Sydney completed a 30 year career in higher education with Nashville State Community College in 2005, retiring from the college as the Vice President of Community and Economic Development. During her tenure there, she was a faculty member, a department chair, and Dean of Technology and Executive Vice President. While at the college, she led a 10-year effort to develop collaborative work force development initiatives with support and funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) where she founded a regional Center for Information Technology Education (CITE) and The Case Files project. While at Nashville State, she developed the design for the Tennessee Board of Regents on-line degree program (RODP). She has served on many local and national non-profit boards and NSF National Visiting Committees.
