The Public School Forum of North Carolina has named Dr. Mary Ann Wolf as its new President and Executive Director. On June 15, 2020, Dr. Wolf will succeed Interim President and Executive Director, Dr. Michael D. Priddy.  Dr. Wolf has more than 20 years of experience in educational policy and leadership. As a Senior Director at North Carolina State University's Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, Dr. Wolf led the Professional Learning and Leading Collaborative (PLLC), where she worked directly with schools and districts statewide to improve equity and build capacity for innovation. 

During her tenure at the Friday Institute, Dr. Wolf empowered her team to develop programs and opportunities for educators and administrators that emphasize innovative practices in education, with the ultimate goal of meeting the needs of all students. Most recently, Dr. Wolf and her team led the development and implementation of a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) MOOC-ED, which now includes a forum on SEL from a Distance, with over 10,000 participants to date. Dr. Wolf has worked to develop a diverse portfolio of funders and attracted new grant opportunities to support this invaluable work at the Friday Institute. 

Prior to her position at the Friday Institute, Dr. Wolf served as the Executive Director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) in Washington, D.C., where she led a national and non-partisan non-profit focused on innovation with members from the fifty state departments of education. Under her leadership, SETDA conducted research and engaged business partners, researchers, district and state education leaders, and policymakers to identify challenges, opportunities, and recommendations to support schools and students. This work included a focus on topics such as equitable access to broadband internet, professional learning and assessment; as well as providing input to legislation and policies. 

Dr. Wolf has an extensive background in conducting and designing research and implementing research-based practices, as well as having a significant impact on the development of policy proposals at local, state, and national levels. Dr. Wolf served as the lead author of the book, Leading Personalized and Digital Learning: A Framework for Implementing School Change, which focuses on tangible practices of principals and puts forth a framework for leading change. 

Dr. Wolf serves as the current chair of the non-partisan, elected Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board. After teaching fifth grade in Henrico, Virginia, Dr. Wolf received her Ph.D. in Education, Administration, and Supervision from The Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. She received a Master's of Education from George Washington University and a Bachelor's degree in Accounting and Marketing from Georgetown University. Dr. Wolf currently lives in Chapel Hill with her husband, Brian, and her three children, Marin, Matthew, and Andrew, who attend public schools in North Carolina. 

The Student STEM Enrichment Program (SSEP) supports diverse programs with a common goal: to enable primary and secondary students to participate in creative, hands-on STEM activities for K-12 students and pursue inquiry-based expiration in BWF's home state of North Carolina. These awards provide up to $60,000 per year for three years. Since the program's inception in 1996, BWF has awarded 201 grants totaling $33.7 million to 103 organizations that reach more than 43,000 North Carolina Students. 

Unfortunately, BWF has made the difficult decision to close the 2020 grant cycle with considerations for the recent announcement from Governor Cooper, in which all North Carolina Public Schools are closed for the remainder of the school year. The current deadline, June 1st, presents conflicts with the upcoming 2021 grant cycle that begins in December 2020. Alongside the conflicts with scheduling, the COVID-19 precautions are greatly impacting active SSEP awardees statewide. The decision to close the 2020 grant cycle will give the BWF the opportunity to address issues and concerns with cancelled and postponed programming, as well as alternate methods of STEM enrichment and exposure. 

Those interested in this opportunity are encouraged to apply for the 2021 award, which opens with a call for proposals in December, 2020.

The North Carolina Department of Instruction welcomes Dr. Latricia "Tricia" Townsend as the Director of Federal Programs. Dr. Townsend joins NC DPI from the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University, where she served as the Director of Evaluation Programs for the Research and Evaluation Team. She led a strong team of professionals focused on education innovation and she has extensive experience in leadership development, grant management, and work focused on improving educational outcomes for students. She has 24 years of experience in the field of education. Her primary research interests include program evaluation, STEM education in formal and informal spaces, and the digital divide. Dr. Townsend currently serves as an associate teaching professor in the College of Education at North Carolina State University, where she has taught research methods courses for the past five years. 

Before coming to the Friday Institute in 2008, Dr. Townsend served as a Science Content Specialist with Technical Outreach to Public Schools (TOPS) at the Center for Urban Affairs and Community Services at North Carolina State University, where she aided in the development of statewide standardized science assessments. She also worked as a research chemist for the Dow Corning Corporation in Midland, Michigan for two years before becoming a science and math teacher. She taught Chemistry, as well as Algebra I and II for nearly ten years with both Saginaw City Schools and Wake County Public Schools. 

Dr. Townsend received a Bachelor of Science degree in Textile Chemistry with a concentration in Polymer Chemistry at North Carolina State University, followed by teacher licensure from Saginaw Valley State University. She earned a Master of School Administration and a Doctorate in Educational Administration and Supervision from North Carolina State University. 

On a personal note, Dr. Townsend is an avid reader and a nature lover who enjoys yoga and meditation. She has been married to John Townsend for 25 years and they have three children - twin girls, Sydney and Taylor, and a son, William. 

NYLC, with support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, developed a series of Engage handbooks designed for youth in elementary, middle, and high school. The handbooks assist providers in bringing service learning to afterschool programs in 15 one-hour sessions. The books begin with an overview of the practice, then engage youth in experiential sessions that highlight youth voice and leadership. Each session begins with an energizer activity tied to the content of the session, and ends with a reflection, that is often in the form of an "exit ticket". By the end of the experience, young people will have acted on issues of importance to them through a deliberative inquiry-based process.