Elaine Chen Alden ’99 (Elementary Education & Psychology) is an instructional coach for the Lakeland Central School District in Yorktown Heights, NY.  She has been an elementary educator since graduating from New Paltz and has served as a mentor to new teachers as well as the elementary STEAM Coordinator for the district.  Always passionate about professional learning both for herself and other educators, Alden has also been an adjunct professor at CUNY Hostos Community College and worked with the NYC Teaching Fellows through teaching graduate courses for the School of Education at Pace University.  Alden holds a Master of Science in Education Evaluation from Fordham University and Doctor of Education in Instructional Leadership from St. John's University.  

Alden is a breast cancer survivor and thriver.  In late 2019, ABC News aired a 20-minute segment spotlighting her cancer journey as she felt compelled to share her story with the goal of helping others going through a similar experience and to both raise awareness about the importance of early detection as well as change the "look of cancer." In 2022, after navigating the trials and tribulations of three diagnoses in four years, she launched Phoenix Purpose, a non-profit organization focused on encouraging compassion to empower survivorship in patients going through cancer. She sits on the Patient and Family Advisory Council for the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.