Oxford Area School District

Distinguished Alumni Class of 2019

Distinguished Alumni Class of 2019 members Todd Woodward and The Honorable Allison Bell Royer. Dr. Lenetta Lee is not pictured.

Dr. Lenetta Lee, Class of 1981

Dr. Lee has over 30 years of diverse administrative and instructional experience in all levels of education, and serves as Dean of the College and Vice-President for Student Success at The Lincoln University. Her responsibilities include advising the university president, senior administration team and faculty on all matters pertaining to student success, serving as one of six executives in the President’s Cabinet, and representing the university with external agencies and organizations.

Dr. Lee is also responsible for studying and interpreting data relevant to the college and external community and serving on the Master Plan Steering Committee to address academic needs, housing and student life, landscape and open space.

Dr. Lee began her administrative career at Lincoln in January 2013 as Interim Dean of Students & Director of Residence Life, serving in that capacity until August 2014, when she was named Associate Vice President of Student Affairs & Dean of Students. She was appointed to her current position in July 2018.

Dr. Lee was an Assistant Professor in the university’s Department of Education from 1999-2002 and an Associate Tenured Professor from 2002-06. In 2001 she established the Erin Dudley Forbes Charter School in Oxford, the first charter school in southeastern Chester County.

After graduating from Oxford, Dr. Lee earned a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from Lincoln University in 1985. In 1986 she received a master’s degree in reading, with a concentration in language arts/reading, from The Ohio State University.

In 2001 Dr. Lee earned her Ph.D. from the Department of African and African-American Studies at Temple University, with a concentration in African and African-American Literature. Her doctoral dissertation was on African and African-American Images in Children’s Literature.

From 1989-99 Dr. Lee was an Adjunct Professor in the Master of Reading program at St. Joseph’s University. She taught in that same capacity from 1999 to 2001 at Eastern Mennonite University.

Following her tenure as a professor at Lincoln, Dr. Lee served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and Communication Arts at Cheyney University from 2008-11.

Dr. Lee is the author of My Seven Other Mothers: A Journey of Transformation, published in 2011, and A Blissful Day, published in 2011. In December 2018, Dr. Lee was invited to Accra, Ghana to speak at the All African People’s conference held at the University of Ghana.

The Honorable Allison Bell Royer, Class of 1985

Allison Bell Royer was born in El Paso, Texas in 1967. Her parents, Clarence D. Bell, Jr. and Mary Louise (O’Hara) Bell, met while both were serving in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.

The family returned from Texas to Delaware County, where Judge Royer spent her early years. In 1979, the Bells moved to Nottingham and Allison was educated in the Oxford Area School District, graduating from Oxford in 1985.

From there Judge Royer attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia where she earned a B.A. in Government in 1989. During a summer break from college she attained her real estate license.

Directly after college Judge Royer went on to Widener University Law School, acquiring her J.D. in 1992.  While still in law school she had a clerkship with the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office and was able to prosecute hundreds of cases at the Magisterial District Court level throughout the county.

Since her grandfather chose to work until he died at just shy of 90 years old, Judge Royer was able to enjoy the unique experience of sharing law office space with both her father and her grandfather for many years.  While working as an attorney full-time and mothering three children, she returned to Villanova Law School in the evenings to obtain a Certificate in Estate Planning, and following that earned her LL.M. in Taxation in 2008.

For 23 years Judge Royer practiced law in two offices, one based in Chester County and another in Delaware County.  Appearing routinely in courts throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania, large and small, country and city, small claims to major trials and appellate work gave her diverse legal experience. While in practice Judge Royer always enjoyed a variety of areas of the law including business transactions, real estate law, wills and trusts, criminal law, family law, juvenile law, and general problem solving for all kinds of people from all walks of life.

Judge Royer was elected to serve on the Chester County Court of Common Pleas in 2015. Presently she is assigned to hear cases in criminal, family, and juvenile matters.

Judge Royer is also the supervising judge for Collections Court and for all offenders subject to SAVE (Swift Alternative Violations Enforcement) supervision. Court schedule permitting, weddings often take place in her courtroom.

Judge Royer volunteers to teach Continuing Legal Education for Pennsylvania attorneys through various providers. Students of all ages come to court to observe and she frequently meets with them to answer any questions they might have about pursuing a career in the law or about the court system itself.

Regardless of how full of responsibilities and commitments life can be, Judge Royer cannot recall a time in her life that she was not actively in the middle of reading a book. A lifelong, avid four-for-four Philly sports fan, she has coached numerous girls’ and boys’ basketball teams in the YMCA Youth Basketball Program, the West Chester Lightning League and the Malvern League.

Family is Judge Royer’s priority, and over the years many of her non-working hours have been spent with her husband Shannon in the bleachers of local soccer, baseball, basketball, softball, swimming and ice hockey venues cheering on their children, whom they both view as their greatest accomplishments.

Married since 1995, the Royers reside in West Goshen Township with their chocolate Lab Ollie and Buffy the rescue cat.

Todd Woodward, Class of 1990

Since 2003, Mr. Woodward has been a Principal with Philadelphia-based SMP Architects, and has over 20 years of experience in the design and management of environmentally responsible higher education and institutional projects. He works with a diverse clientele including universities, government agencies, and nonprofits.

Mr. Woodward challenges each of his clients to make environmentally responsible decisions, with sustainable strategies sensitively incorporated into his finely crafted projects. His extensive body of work includes West Chester University’s South Campus Student Center, the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and renovations and additions to the Westtown School Science Center.

After graduating from Oxford, Mr. Woodward earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Penn State University and a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. He began his career as an Intern Architect at BLT Architects in Philadelphia, and from 1997 to 2003 was an Associate/Project Architect with SMP when the firm was known as Susan Maxman & Partners.

In addition to his work with SMP, Mr. Woodward is a Lecturer in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, teaching a course entitled “Ecological Architecture, Contemporary Practices.” He currently serves on the Editorial Board of Context, the Journal of AIA Philadelphia; the Advisory Council of the Community Design Collaborative; and the Board of Directors for Mount Airy Baseball.

Mr. Woodward was co-editor, with Beth Miller, of the publication LEVERAGE: Strengthening Neighborhoods through Design, published in 2011, and was elected to the Carpenter’s Company of the City and County of Philadelphia in 2009.