ST. CLAIRSVILLE — As she shapes the next generation of educators, Jacqueline Yahn is also immersed in family life and in her research in rural education, particularly in Appalachia.

Married to Chris Yahn, president of Yahn Electric Co., and mother to 4-year-old Liam, Yahn is happy that she and Chris made the decision to return to the Ohio Valley more than a decade ago. Both live among three generations of their respective families here in the area.

The Martins Ferry High School graduate studied secondary English education at West Liberty University before obtaining a master’s degree in integrated teaching and learning from The Ohio State University and a doctorate in educational administration from Ohio University in 2017. A career in education was a natural fit for her.

“The teaching part of my career is literally the family business,” Yahn said. “Three generations of my family have worked in public education here in the Ohio Valley.”

A turning point in her career came when she got the inspiration for her field of research.

“I was in my master’s program and exposed to quite a range of research on education, but none of it focused on rural and small-town schools. Put another way, none of this research related to my experience growing up in the Ohio Valley,” she said. “I started to look for doctoral programs where I could explore this interest, and I found my way to my mentors Craig and Aimee Howley (now good friends) who introduced me to the field of rural education research and connected me with a network of colleagues.”

That research has since led to the publication of 16 single or co-authored scholarly journal articles, edited book chapters and outreach reports.

“My expertise is in rural education, rural school and community vitality, school finance, education policy and leadership, with a special focus given to current and/or historical issues impacting rural schools and communities, especially in the Appalachian region,” she noted.

Yahn now serves as a fellow in the Institute for Measurement Methodology in Rural STEM Education (IMMERSE).

Yahn said she would tell a young woman starting out in the field to focus on learning the process of teaching and research and not to get distracted with the ideal “final product.” She believes that excellent teaching and impactful research emerge through a series of intentional steps.

And there are lessons about life that Yahn said are just as important as those about career.

“Eleven years ago, I was home for the weekend to celebrate my dad and uncle’s retirement. I opened the local paper to find a position in my field that would allow me to work at Ohio University’s Eastern campus. I interviewed and was ultimately offered the position, but accepting meant my husband and I would need to change our career plans and relocate on short notice,” she said. “We took a breath and realized how much we wanted to move back home to the Ohio Valley and live around both our families.”

Yahn said there are many reasons why the local area is a great place to build a life and career.

“The sense of community across the valley is unmatched, and there are so many opportunities on a weekly basis to be out in the community,” she said.

And she sees the Ohio Valley as a place of opportunity for women in nearly any field.

“I see many of us creating new ways to thrive in our respective professions and becoming the leaders in reimagining what can be accomplished within these roles,” she noted. “I find this is possible because we’re accessing the social capital in our various networks and leaning into relationships built over a lifetime that sustain our overall well being.”

Yahn lives by a motto that she often shares with her students.

“Over the years I crafted this motto from advice I often give to young professionals: ‘Place matters. Establish roots in the place you want to make a life surrounded by the people you want to make it with. We wilt when we make our big life choices in the shadow of values that are not our own.'”