Dr. Rashidah Leverett to present APSU’s Betty Joe Wallace Memorial Lecture on March 25
By: Dr. Michèle Butts March 2, 2026
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Dr. Rashidah Leverett, a Montgomery County commissioner, Army veteran, and TEDx speaker, will give Austin Peay State University’s annual Betty Joe Wallace Memorial Lecture at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25, in MUC 303-305.
Leverett, a certified Christian Leadership Coach from Newark, New Jersey, has served on the Montgomery County Commission since 2018. She authored The Four Sights of Visionary Leadership, published in February 2025, based on her TEDx Talk of the same name.
About the speaker
After graduating from high school, Dr. Rashidah Leverett joined the U.S. Army and served as a unit supply specialist from 1992 to 1999. She chose Clarksville as her permanent home while stationed at Fort Campbell from 1996 to 1999. After leaving the military to raise her son, she began working as an overnight cashier at Walmart in 2001 and became an assistant store manager by 2010. She left Walmart to work in logistics for Lockheed Martin, traveling to Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Iraq in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
In 2011, Leverett returned to Clarksville and earned her master’s degree. She began her career in higher education as an adjunct professor at Miller-Motte Technical College and was promoted to director of education of its Madison, Tennessee campus in 2015. When Miller-Motte closed, Leverett completed her doctoral dissertation while starting her online coaching business. She also serves as an adjunct professor of leadership and social justice at Fisk University.
Leverett was elected to the Montgomery County Commission to represent District 5 in 2018. She initiated legislation making Montgomery the second county in Tennessee to adopt Juneteenth as a paid holiday for county employees, before the federal government. She has served as chair of the Jail and Juvenile Committee, the Legislative Liaison Committee, and the Beer Board. Her committee memberships have included the Budget, Purchasing, Public Safety Training Complex, and Loss Control Committees, as well as the Personnel Advisory and Zoning and Appeals Boards.
Leverett is certified by the Fowler International Academy of Professional Coaching and runs her own Christian Leadership Coaching practice. She is a frequent speaker and moderator for workshops, conferences, and churches in the areas of career development, leadership, and spiritual growth. As an involved community member, she is also an ordained elder at Christ the Healer Church in Clarksville and sits on the boards of Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County, Leadership Clarksville, and the Clarksville Community Concert Association.
About the Betty Joe Wallace Memorial Lecture
The Betty Joe Wallace Memorial Lecture is co-sponsored by the Department of History and Philosophy and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. A champion of minorities’ and women’s rights, Professor Betty Joe Wallace pioneered and taught African American history and women’s history courses at Austin Peay for nearly 30 years. She founded both the African American Studies Program and the Women’s Studies Program. In 1989, the faculty honored her with the Distinguished Professor Award. Between 1965 and 2004, Wallace trained hundreds of history and social studies teachers who served throughout the area.