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Dr. Joseph Sinclair, Executive
Director
Dr.
Sinclair has served for many years in various
educational positions throughout North Carolina. He comes from a prominent
family of educators, which includes a tenure of over fifty consecutive years in
educational service by his mother and father, and over thirty years by his wife, Claryce.
Joe Sinclair served for
eleven years in the Guilford County School System as a teacher,
local school administrator, Director of Personnel, and Assistant
Superintendent for Personnel and Staff Development. In 1979, he
began a twenty-one year career as a public school superintendent,
serving for twelve of those years in the prestigious Burlington City
School
System. During his tenure, the school
system received nine Governor’s Awards for Excellence, was recognized as
the state leader in the Career Development Plan, produced the North
Carolina and
National Teacher of the Year (which produced an oval office meeting with
President Ronald Reagan), Dr. Sinclair's system consistently ranked in the top
ten percent in academic performance in North Carolina. After a
successful career as school superintendent, Dr. Sinclair was
selected as the Executive Director of the Northwest Regional Educational
Service Alliance which provides professional growth opportunities for
over seven thousand educators in northwest North Carolina and southwest
Virginia. In his present position, Dr. Sinclair is a strong advocate for
developing partnerships with institutions of higher learning fostering a
strong partnership with Appalachian State University.
Dr.
Sinclair set successful educational goals early in his life, earning four
graduate degrees by age thirty and also becoming one of the youngest school
superintendents by age thirty-two. His formal academic background includes
the following: Bachelor of Science Degree (Appalachian State University); Master
of Science Degree in Educational Leadership (North Carolina A & T State
University); Master of Science Degree in Teaching (North Carolina A & T State
University); Educational Specialist Degree (Western Carolina University); and
Doctor of Education Degree (The University of North Carolina at Greensboro).
He also holds the following professional certifications: Advanced
Superintendent’s Certificate (Doctoral Level); Advanced Principal’s Certificate
(Doctoral Level): Curriculum Instructional Specialist Certificate (Graduate
Level); and Teacher Certification at the Graduate Level.
At
present, Dr. Sinclair is actively involved with professional councils at the
state and national levels. In 2002, he was selected to represent North
Carolina on the Association of Educational Service Alliance (AESA) National Governmental
Relations Committee. He also has served on the North Carolina State
Superintendents' Advisory Council, and the North Carolina Association of School
Administrators’ Leadership Advisory Board.
Dr. Sinclair is
actively involved with Appalachian State University, serving on four councils,
including vice-chairman of the External Advisory Graduate Council, member of the
Doctoral Council for educational leadership, and as Adjunct Professor in the
graduate program. He meets frequently with students and faculty to discuss
various issues relating to public school K-12 education and higher education.
During
his career, Dr. Sinclair has achieved many special honors and distinctions which
include the following: Awarded a national research grant by the Educational
Service Organization “Phi Delta Kappa” to co-author the Prospective Educator’s
Guide to Employment Procedures in the Public Schools of North Carolina;
selection as the North Carolina Educational Office Personnel’s District Ten
“Boss of the Year”; Selected to serve on the Advisory Board for the First
Citizens Bank and Trust Company; Selected to the Advisory Board for the State
Employees Credit Union; Selected by the Burlington/Alamance Community College
Association of Educational Office Personnel as “Administrator of the Year”;
“Outstanding Contribution Award” by the Burlington Association of Educators;
Region five Superintendent of the Year; Regional Superintendent of the Year by
the North Carolina High School Athletic Association; Awarded the North Carolina
Superintendent of the Year by the North Carolina School Boards Association;
Awarded the North Carolina PTA District Six, Outstanding Educator Award; Awarded
the Paul Harris Fellow Award as Outstanding Rotarian; and Honorary Chairman of
the Iredell County March of Dimes. Dr. Sinclair has also been a member of
numerous other organizations, including Phi Delta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, North
Carolina Association of School Administrators, American Association of School
Administrators, and the Association of Educational Service Alliance.
He has
recently been selected to serve on the Superintendent's Division of the Board of Directors for the North Carolina
Association of School Administrators and the Elon Home for Children. He
also serves as a managing partner for a successful consulting firm.
Related Stories:
Superintendent's Secret Weather Agent
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Deanna
K. Hanlin
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Serving as the Appalachian Region Math
& Science (ARMS) Project Director, Dee Hanlin has been a
middle grades educator for 18 years holding positions of
teacher, team leader, staff development provider, and regional
consultant. She has been the mathematics consultant at the
Northwest Regional Educational Service Alliance (NWRESA) in
Wilkesboro, NC, since 1996, where
she chairs the curriculum and instruction council and curriculum coaches
group and conducts regional and onsite workshops and works with teachers in
curriculum design, alignment, and delivery. She also serves as Director of
the Appalachian Region Math & Science Partnership Project and the Mountain
Valley Partnership, and is on the MSEC Board at ASU.
Additionally, she has directed
three regional Eisenhower grants and served as a federal grant
reader for university proposals. She is a certified trainer of
Thinking Maps and national trainer for Texas Instruments’
Teachers Teaching with Technology. She has presented at NCMSA,
NCCTM, and at TI International Conferences. She served as
assistant director of NWRESA in 2003, in the absence of a full
time director.
Her formal academic background includes a Bachelor of Arts
Degree in Mathematical Sciences from Clemson University,
graduate credit from the University of South Carolina and her
Masters Degree in Middle Grades with Mathematics Concentration
from Appalachian State University.
Dee’s other significant training includes AIMS: Math
Connections Series A for grades K-2, 3-5, & 6-9; Core-Plus
Mathematics Project; T³
International Conference training, T-cubed Algebra,
Geometry, Integrating Multiple Technologies, Middle School
Mathematics & Dealing With Data.
Dee lives in Miller’s Creek and has 2 sons, Kyle and Jesse who
currently attend North Carolina State University.
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Mardy
Brown
Mardy Brown is the
K-12 Language Arts Consultant and Staff Development Coordinator in the
areas of Second Languages, ESL (English as a Second Language) and
Student Services for NWRESA. In addition, Mardy serves as Reading First
Director.
Upon joining the NWRESA team, Mardy has developed The NWRESA
Collection of Student Writing Exemplars for Grades 4, 7, and 10, as well
as, Writing Resources for Classroom Teachers in Grades 3-8. The NWRESA
Paraprofessional Training Module was developed in partnership with Dee
Hanlin, Math Consultant for the NWRESA.
In this
position, Mardy shares literacy strategies across North Carolina. Mardy’s
accomplishments include:
·
Conference Director for the “Focus on Diversity Conference”
·
NC Certified Writing Trainer
·
NC Thinking Maps Trainer
·
Performance-based License Product
Assessor
·
NC HOUSE Assessor
·
ASU Partnership Executive Board
Member
·
Teaching Fellows Selective Process
Committee
·
NC Public Schools Forum
·
USA Today Staff Development
Evaluator
·
Alpha Delta Kappa
·
Regional Lead Teacher, Summer
Science Institute, Appalachian State University
·
Former Teacher of the Year
for Parkway Elementary School
·
Finalist for the Outstanding Young Educator Award
Mardy’s interests are varied. She
has traveled abroad with the Foreign Study League studying art history.
Special interests for Mardy include helping others, playing tennis,
horseback riding, music, and reading. As a proud daughter to retired
Appalachian State University professor, James Nelson, Mardy will tell
you that teaching is “in her blood.” Mardy is also proud of her
daughter, Bonnie, a current graduate in the Accounting Department of
Appalachian State University.
Prior to
joining the NWRESA staff, Mardy had a very successful twenty-four year career
as a classroom teacher. During that time, she served on many
committees and held offices in several professional organizations.
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Karen
Lowe
Karen is the education consultant for school
library/media and grant writing for the NWRESA. She has been at the
NWRESA since 1987 providing staff development and consultative services
to media specialists and teachers. Although she retired in 2002, Karen
continues to work on a part-time basis. She previously taught in
Asheville City, Madison County, Unicoi County (TN), and Ashe County
Schools. After her retirement from full time work, she formed her own
consulting firm, Beacon Consulting, through which she travels and does
workshops throughout the U.S. She also teaches graduate classes in
library science at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC.
Karen is very active in professional organizations
at the state and national level. She is currently President of the North
Carolina School Library Media Association for 2005-2006. She recently
began a two-year term as Secretary of the Affiliate Assembly of the
American Association of School Librarians (AASL). Previously, she served
four years on the Publications Committee of AASL. She is the author of
three books: Resource Alignment: Providing Curriculum Support in the
School Library Media Center, Writing Grant Proposals: Tips for
Educators and Others, and Backward Glances: A Journal of Endings
and Beginnings.
She has published two articles on Resource
Alignment in Knowledge Quest, the journal of AASL, one in
Nov./Dec. 2001 and one in Sept./Oct. 2003, as well as articles in
North Carolina Libraries and Leading and Learning with Technology. Her article on “Resource Alignment” can be found in
KQ on the Web. She has presented at ALA and AASL national
conferences and is a frequent presenter at workshops and state
conferences around the country.
Karen has helped many school districts write
successful grants, ranging in amounts from $1,000 to $1.9 million. She
also conducts workshops for schools districts and the region in how to
write effective grant proposals.
She is a former school library media specialist
and classroom teacher with a strong background in elementary education,
social studies and reading. She lives in Millers Creek, NC, with her
husband, Ray and a Siamese cat named Jasmine. Together, they have five
children and four grandchildren.
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John Caldwell has been associated with the Northwest RESA for 22 years. He has served in several capacities including Regional
Science
Coordinator, Lead Instructional Specialist, and Education Consultant.
Currently retired, he is an independent contractor with the NWRESA as a
trainer for Teacher Performance Appraisal and Mentoring the Novice Teacher.
John is a certified national consultant with Learning
Focused Solutions, Inc., and through an agreement with the NWRESA, he serves
as a consultant for the Learning Focused Schools Reform Model for
member systems.
John's personal interests
include being a member of the Lost Provinces Shape Note Singers. He
is also a Certified Master Gardener Volunteer through the Cooperative Extension
Service, USDA.
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Carolyn
Broyhill
Carolyn
serves as an education consultant at NWRESA. She joined the staff in
2000 in the Human Resources section of the North Carolina Department of
Public Instruction, a position in which she was responsible for
licensing teachers in the counties served by the NWRESA.
She has worked with Initially Licensed Teachers in year one and year two
of their teaching careers. In her duties in this area, she worked with
new teacher who were preparing the Performance-based License Product as
evidence of their knowledge of teaching methods as well as the training
of the teachers who assessed these products.
She was instrumental in preparing and delivering the NWRESA
Paraprofessional Training Module. At present, Carolyn serves as
assistant director for Reading First and as coordinator for the North
Carolina Senior Project Institutes.
Carolyn has been a middle
grades educator for 20 years holding positions of teacher, team
leader,and staff development provider. She taught mathematics, science,
and communication skills in the Wilkes County School System. She also
taught mentoring, ETTP, TPAI, and TPAS for the Wilkes County School
System as well as for Wilkes Community College.
She was selected as a trainer for the North Carolina
Teacher Academy and helped provide training for teams of North Carolina
teachers.
Her formal academic training includes a Bachelor of
Science Degree in Mathematics and Science from Appalachian State
University, graduate credits from the University of North Carolina at
Greensboro, and a Master of Arts Degree in Middle Grade Education from
Appalachian State University. She is certified at the graduate level
for the Academically Gifted, K-12, as well as a certified mentor.
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Barbara
Ledford
Barbara serves the office
manager for the organization. She began working at the NWRESA with the
Division of Manpower in 1977 and a year later became a full time
employee of the regional center. She has worked with the center through
its several transitions from a technical assistance center to a regional
education center.
In addition to
being the office manager, Barbara is the executive assistant to Dr.
Sinclair. She handles the budget and other financial matters and keeps
well-organized records. Anyone needing information knows Barbara is the
go-to person!
She is a member
of American Businesswomen’s Association and Baptist Home Baptist Church.
In her spare time, she enjoys gardening and interior design projects.
Barbara has three children and six grandchildren.
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Carla Leslie
Carla serves as the
administrative assistant for the
Appalachian Region Math and Science Partnership Project (ARMS).
She has been a member of the NWRESA staff since July 2004. Originally
from West Virginia, Carla worked twenty-five years for Mercer County
Schools in a number of departments including Federal Programs, Human
Resources, Finance, and as an executive secretary for three
superintendents. She also has expertise in technology training, website
design, and public relations.
Prior to coming to North
Carolina, Carla spent many years in public service assisting her husband
in his eighteen-year term as Mayor of the City of Hinton. She was
creator of the “Sunday Arts in the City” series, an arts program
that hosted many notable events for the community including the West
Virginia Symphony, Theatre West Virginia, and Parkersburg-Wheeling
Ballet Company. Carla also served as Executive Director of the Summers
County Convention and Visitors Bureau for six years. In this
position, she handled all marketing and advertising, procured several
grants from the West Virginia Division of Tourism, developed a website
for the organization, and created a number of information pieces
promoting tourism within the area. She additionally served as a board
member for the Southern West Virginia Convention and Visitors Bureau
which represents a 9-county region.
Carla was instrumental in
founding a museum for veterans, the Veterans Memorial Museum of
Southern West Virginia, Inc., in 1997, the first one of
its kind in the state. She also served as Director of the museum which
features exhibits from all major conflicts including Spanish-American
War, Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam, Gulf
War, Afghanistan, and the Iraqi conflicts.
Carla and her husband Jim
have four children: Derrick, a
pharmaceutical technician; Brian, a helicopter pilot for the United
States Air Force who just returned from his fifth tour in Iraq; Heath,
who attends the University of North Carolina at Greensboro; and Heather,
who attends the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
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