Silver Spring, MD-- National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) is pleased to announce that Stefanie Wager, a social studies consultant at the Iowa Department of Education in Des Moines, Iowa, began a one-year term as president of the NCSS Board of Directors on July 1, 2020. Anton Schulzki, a social studies teacher at General William J. Palmer High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, began a one-year term as president-elect and is in line to be president beginning in July 2021. Shannon Pugh, manager of academics and assessments for Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Annapolis, Maryland, began a one-year term as vice president and is in line to be president beginning in July 2022. Tina L. Heafner, a professor at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, NC, assumed the role of past-president.

Joining the Board of Directors for their first terms are Kristin Ayala, a social studies teacher at Fox Ridge Middle School in Aurora, Colorado; Alex Cuenca, an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana; and Tina Ellsworth, a K-12 social studies coordinator for Olathe Public Schools in Olathe, Kansas. Returning for a second term is Rhonda Watton, a social studies teacher at Templeton Middle School in Sussex, Wisconsin. 2020 NCSS House of Delegates Steering Committee Chair David Kendrick, a social studies teacher and department co-chair at Bear Creek Middle School in Statham, Georgia, will serve a one-year term as an ex-officio member of the board.

As president, Wager brings extensive state and classroom level experience to NCSS leadership. She currently serves as the Social Studies Consultant for the Iowa Department of Education providing leadership and guidance at the state level for social studies education. Prior to this, she taught high school social studies for Des Moines Public Schools and Dallas Center-Grimes Schools and worked at Instituto Thomas Jefferson in Naucalpan, Mexico. Within the NCSS community, she has served as president, vice-president, and annual conference chair of the Iowa Council for the Social Studies, an NCSS Affiliated Council. She has served on the NCSS Board of Directors since 2015 and currently leads the Advocacy Task Force. She is also a member of the Council of State Social Studies Specialists (CS4), an NCSS Associated Group. A complete biography is available at https://www.socialstudies.org/about/board/stefanie-wager.

“I am honored to serve as NCSS president. I look forward to forward to working with the Board of Directors to advance our mission to advocate and build capacity for high-quality social studies,” said NCSS President Stefanie Wager.

“As NCSS begins its Centennial Celebration, I am excited to partner with our new President and Board members, and our entire governance team and staff, to launch a vision for our association and its second century of service to the social studies profession,” said NCSS Executive Director Lawrence M. Paska.

Full information about the NCSS Board of Directors is available at https://www.socialstudies.org/about.

Founded in 1921, National Council for the Social Studies is the largest professional association in the country devoted solely to social studies education. NCSS engages and supports educators in strengthening and advocating social studies. With members in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 35 countries, NCSS serves as an umbrella organization for elementary, secondary, and college teachers of history, civics, geography, economics, political science, sociology, psychology, anthropology, and law-related education.