Woodbridge Democratic Town Committee

Sheila McCreven was re-elected in May 2009 to a second term on the Woodbridge Board of Education, where she currently serves as Chairman. She was first elected to the WBOE in 2005 after a decade of extensive involvement at Beecher Road School and in the broader community. She and her husband Mike Helfenbein have lived in Woodbridge since 1997 and have three children who attend public schools in town.

Ms. McCreven was elected Chairman of the nine-member Woodbridge Board of Education in July 2007, after having served from 2005 to 2007 as Board Secretary. She was also appointed by the Board of Selectmen to serve on the Town Building Committee charged with developing an infrastructure upgrade project for Beecher Road School.

She brings a professional background in communications and public relations, as well as wide-ranging experience serving as a volunteer in leadership roles in her community. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She is currently employed at Yale University as Communications Director for a federally funded research grant at the School of Public Health. Previously, she was employed at Yale School of Nursing's Office of International Affairs, and at the New York Headquarters of the United Nations, in the Department of Public Information.

Ms. McCreven is a past President of the Beecher Road School PTO, where she has been an active member since 1998. She joined the Amity League of Women Voters in 2001 and is currently a member of the League's steering committee, having served in the past as Co-Vice President and Chair of its Community Conversation on Education committee. From 2006 to 2009, Ms. McCreven served on the Board of Directors of Sound View Community Media, as the designee of the Woodbridge First Selectman. She is currently the Secretary of the Woodbridge Democratic Town Committee, where she has been an active member since 2004. In her spare time, Ms. McCreven enjoys genealogy research and has traced her maternal lines back to several of the families who settled the town of Woodbridge in the 1660s.

Dr. YanYun Wu was elected to the Woodbridge Board of Education in May 2009. Dr. Wu received her MD from Beijing Medical University (now Peking University Health Science Center) and her Ph.D. from Tulane University. She finished her residency and fellowship training at Yale University School of Medicine and the National Institute of Health. Since 2002, she has been a faculty member at Yale University School of Medicine where she teaches and gives lectures regularly to Yale medical students, residents, and fellows.

Dr. Wu and her husband Joe moved to Woodbridge in 2002, and they have two children who have attended Beecher Road School. Dr. Wu has been an active member and has served on many committees for a variety of professional societies, including the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB), the American Society for Apheresis (ASFA), and the American Society for Clinical Pathology. For the past several years, she has also served on the board of the local Chinese school.

Clotilde Dudley Smith was elected to the Woodbridge Board of Education in May 2009, after having been involved at Beecher Road School since she and her husband Ron moved to Woodbridge eleven years ago. In 2000 and 2001 she served as the Secretary of the Beecher Road School PTO. She is currently serving as the PTO's Treasurer.

Dr. Smith previously served as a member of the Woodbridge Board of Education, from 2001 until 2005. She was on the Curriculum Committee and the Ad Hoc Safety & Security Committee, as well as serving as Board Secretary at that time.

She has also served the community in many other ways, including as a Girl Scout leader for a troop that meets at Beecher Road School, as a CCD teacher for Our Lady of Assumption Church, and as Co-Chair of the Amity Relay for Life in 2007 and 2008.

Dr. Smith is a Professor of Public and Health Care Administration at the University of New Haven, and a Professor of Health Care Administration for Charter Oak. She has a Masters in Public Administration and Health Care Administration from the University of New Haven, and a Doctorate in Educational Management from the University of Bridgeport.

She and Ron have a daughter who graduated from Beecher Road School, and a son who is currently attending.