Dr. Patricia Neff is Director of Education Enrichment and Children’s Ministry at Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Iowa State University, and her Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University.
Dr. Neff has taught at the Pre-school, Elementary, Junior High and High School levels. Her love for teaching and making a difference in the lives of children took her out of the K-12 classroom and into college teaching, where for fifteen years she was a teacher educator, training Arizona teachers to positively impact the lives of their students; supervised their student teaching; and worked closely with the Arizona Department of Education on various committees and programs. Dr. Neff is Professor Emeriti of Arizona State University (where she taught for twenty-one years at the undergraduate and master’s levels), and the University of Phoenix (where she taught for 28 years as undergraduate, masters and doctoral faculty).
Dr. Neff is a certified: Conflict Mediator, Poverty Coach, Strengthening Multi-Ethnic Families Trainer, Triple P Practitioner-Levels 2, 3, 4, 5, Nurturing Parenting Practitioner, Protective Factors Trainer, Mandated Reporter, Mandated Supporter Trainer, and Youth Mental Health First Aider. She is an international education and parenting consultant also certified in Adverse Childhood Experiences, Trauma Informed Primary Prevention, and Culturally Competent Approaches to Education.
During her tenure in Arizona, Dr. Neff has been very active in the Phoenix community. She served as Vice-chair on Governor Symington’s African American Advisory Council, Chair of the Maricopa County Attorney’s African American Advisory Council, Mediator for civil rights cases for the Attorney General’s Office, and Curriculum Developer and Grants Reviewer for the Arizona Department of Education. She was the president of the Arizona Alliance of Black School Educators, State Advisor for the Arizona Black Student Union Association, and Organizer and Chair of the Inaugural Statewide Black Student Union Leadership Conference.
Dr. Neff has served on several National Professional Organizations and Editorial Boards. She has authored articles in professional journals and presented at professional conferences nationally and locally. Dr. Neff has earned several honors and awards. More notably, she was listed in Who’s Who in American Education in 1990.
Dr. Neff is the current Chair of the First Things First Phoenix South Regional Partnership Council and holds the Early Childhood Education Seat.