About
EDUCATION
Charlene M. Brennan, D.Ed. was born and raised in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. She moved with her family to Hazleton, Pennsylvania, in 1970, when her father’s job required them to relocate there. She is a 1979 graduate of West Hazleton High School. After graduation, Dr. Brennan originally enrolled in Penn State University in the journalism program but changed majors in her junior year to study the profession where her heart truly was…education. In 1983 she graduated with distinction from Penn State with a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education with a journalism emphasis. After briefly exploring gifted education at Bloomsburg University, she returned to Penn State and earned her Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Educational Administration, completing her studies in 2004. During that time she also became certified as an instructional technology specialist, a secondary principal, and received her superintendent’s Letter of Eligibility.
EXPERIENCE
Charlene M. Brennan, D.Ed., began her career teaching secondary English first at Minersville Area and then at Pottsville Area High School in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. In 1986 she moved to the Schuylkill Intermediate Unit 29, a regional education service agency. There she was the state-level director of the ACCESS Pennsylvania library CD-ROM database program, an initiative of the Pennsylvania Department of Education to automate school, public, and university libraries and create a unified database of library holdings to share statewide. She helped design the interlibrary delivery of books and resources, and conducted the first internet trainings for librarians in the state. She also was on the cutting edge working with PDE to implement satellite technology at public libraries and video conferencing technology in schools.
In 1994 Dr. Brennan moved to the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit, Schnecksville, PA, where she continued her work in network and instructional technology as the Assistant Director of Curriculum, Instructional Materials Services. Among her many responsibilities was the implementation of the Intermediate Unit’s first email and internet system among the intermediate unit’s school districts. In 1997 the Colonial Intermediate Unit in Easton, PA, hired Dr. Brennan to lead its curriculum and technology departments as director. She began with only two other employees in the department and grew it to over 35, establishing Colonial IU 20 as a leader in curriculum and technology, not just with its own districts but in the state.
In 2002 Dr. Brennan was appointed as Assistant Executive Director of the Intermediate Unit and then in 2005 as Executive Director, overseeing a staff of 1500 full and part-time employees. She was active locally and statewide in all education topics and initiatives until her retirement from Colonial IU 20 in 2019. In retirement she has served as Interim superintendent for the Pleasant Valley School District in Monroe County twice and as a guest columnist for the Pocono Record.