Sue Polojac is the Director of the Dr. Rae Ann Hirsh Early Childhood Education HUB at Carlow University in Pittsburgh, PA. Sue joined the Education Department at Carlow in March 2020. Sue’s role as the HUB Director is to support the Apprenticeship HUB and education team, and keep abreast of the local, state, and national trends of the apprenticeship model and early childhood education.  Sue has 30 years of ECE experience in childcare, Head Start, state government, and higher education. Sue has held many different roles within childcare, taught kindergarten, and worked at Trying Together as the Co-Director of Quality Initiatives, where she focused on grants associated with financial literacy, digital media literacy, and community and family engagement. 

Sue most recently worked at the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) as the Race to the Top (RTT) and then Preschool Development Federal Grant Director (PDG). While at OCDEL, Sue was responsible for the programming and fiscal management of $65 million in federal grants that supported systems changes to the Professional Development (PD) Registry, Keystone STARS Revisioning, Family and Community Engagement, Stronger connections between Institutes of Higher Education and Early Learning Programs/Community Partners, Early Childhood Mental Health, Pre-natal-Grade 3 alignment, research and evaluation of the true cost of care in early learning programs, shared services, and many others. 

Sue has presented at conferences and webinars throughout the United States related to a variety of topics related to early childhood education. Sue currently serves as Co-Chair for the Pennsylvania Early Childhood Education Consortium, representing the 4 -year Institutions of Higher Education. Sue also serves on the Advisory Boards for both ELRC 4 and 5, The PASSHE PDO, and Hi-5 Transition to Kindergarten. Sue also serves on the National Head Start Work Circle for Early Childhood Apprenticeship.

Sue obtained her B.A. and M.Ed. In Early Childhood Education from Carlow University and has presented at conferences all over the country on a variety of topics. Sue lives in Monroeville with her husband John, and their Yorkie Oliver. Sue enjoys baking, gardening, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.