Voices of Reach: Dr. Malekah Salim-Morgan

Dean, Reach Teachers College, Undergraduate Studies.

Voices of Reach highlights members of the Reach University community and their work to live Reach’s mission, core values, and commitment to expanding access to work-embedded higher education.

Anyone who knows Dr. Salim-Morgan knows she is the human embodiment of glitter. Her smile and enthusiasm for everything before her is contagious. It’s no wonder that she has decided to dedicate her life to supporting children and the people who serve them every day. She has spent more than 25 years serving students, educators, and communities, and when she says she leads with love, you just know she means it. It shows up in everything she does.

Dr. Salim-Morgan began her career in Louisiana’s public schools as a teacher. Over the next 25 years, she served as a literacy coach, assistant principal, principal, principal supervisor, and state education leader before joining Reach Teachers College as Clinical Residency Coordinator and Clinical Year Director, prior to her current role as the Dean of Undergraduate Studies. Each role gave her a different view of what schools need, but one belief has remained constant: strong leadership starts with relationships.

Her leadership style is very much shaped by these past career experiences. She prioritizes people over position, approaching candidates and colleagues with compassion while still holding herself and those around her to high standards. That approach guides how she works with faculty and colleagues to strengthen the candidate experience, support aspiring teachers, and ensure Reach’s programs remain connected to the realities of today’s classrooms. For Dr. Salim-Morgan, being people-centered doesn’t mean lowered expectations. Rather, she approaches candidates and colleagues with trust, compassion, and what she calls “positive presuppositions,” meaning she believes in their potential while also gently pushing them to grow through constructive feedback.

All Reach candidates already work in schools. They know their students, understand their communities, and bring years of experience into their degree programs. As a lead learner, she believes learning is reciprocal and that every candidate and colleague brings knowledge and experience worth sharing. Dr. Salim-Morgan sees that experience as a strength. Her work helps create an environment where candidates can build on what they already know while developing the skills and confidence to lead their own classrooms.

Her commitment to learning recently led her to complete her doctoral degree at Baylor University. Her doctoral journey also tested that commitment. During her second year at Baylor, Dr. Salim-Morgan was diagnosed with breast cancer. She continued to work, study, lead, and heal, supported by professors who cared for her as a person while maintaining high expectations. That experience also shapes how she believes Reach should serve its candidates: with humility, compassion, grace, and academic integrity.

Her research explored school leadership and the role relationships play when schools and communities experience change. The work reflected questions she has spent much of her career asking:

• Who is most affected by the decisions leaders make?
• Whose voice needs to be heard?
• How can schools serve students and families with greater, intentional care?

Her research reinforced her belief that effective leaders prioritize people and relationships over positions and policies.

Reach’s Mission, Vision, and Values in Action

For Dr. Salim-Morgan, leading with love is not separate from the work. It’s how she helps move Reach University's mission forward.

By supporting future teachers who are already serving the schools and communities, she helps make higher education more accessible while creating new pathways to upward mobility. Candidates do not have to step away from their work to move forward. They can continue learning where their impact is already being felt. Dr. Salim-Morgan is continually inspired by candidates who overcome obstacles and challenges in pursuit of their degrees, and each milestone she reaches is another opportunity to better serve candidates.

Her leadership reflects Reach’s values in clear, practical ways. She owns the work and the outcome, holding herself and her peers to high standards while staying focused on what the candidates need to succeed. She is curious, always questioning what is and building what is next, continuing to learn, ask thoughtful questions, and seek new ways to strengthen the candidate experience. And last but not least, she believes that we grow and succeed together, investing in candidates, faculty, and colleagues while keeping students and communities at the center of her work. That commitment will continue through her selection as a Deans for Impact Academy fellow, where she will learn alongside educator-preparation leaders from across the country. “I learn so that I can continue to lead with excellence, and more importantly, love,” she said.

Her love is what ties everything together. It is in the way she listens, encourages others, and continues to show up with joy. The light people see in Dr. Salim-Morgan is not just part of her personality. It is part of how she leads.