Women to Watch Finalists – Education Category

 

Melinda Anderson currently serves as UNCW’s Director of University College, which provides leadership and direction for supporting first-year students.

In her position, she leads the University College’s staff of twenty-five to provide first-year academic advising services, learning communities and curricular programs for all freshmen, undecided transfers, military, and preprofessional students interested in health and legal professions. The University College serves 3,500-4,000 students, the second-largest academic unit at UNCW.

She also was recently appointed as the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies. As associate dean, she helps to support university strategic initiatives designed to increase and sustain student success.

Originally from Northern Virginia, Anderson earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University and an Ed.D. in higher education administration from the College of William and Mary.


“I was inspired to pursue student success work early in my professional career. I am a first-generation college student, and my parents raised me to believe in the power of education,” she says. “I fell in love with the idea of supporting students and quickly got to work to determine what area of higher education would suit me best. I like to say that I was born in student affairs and was raised in academic affairs.”

At a national level, Anderson was recently appointed to the NACADA Council as the Regional Representative after serving as the Region 2 Chair and the Virginia state liaison. NACADA, the global community for academic advising, is the professional organization for academic advising. 

IN OTHERS’ WORDS

“Immediately, at first thought, words of leader, visionary, community organizer, creative thinker, and intellectual come to mind. Under Dr. Anderson's leadership, students are immediately engaged in programming and experiences to enhance the Wilmington community and the UNCW campus.”

-Sheri Shaw, UNCW’s assistant dean for student success

Donna DeGennaro began the nonprofit Unlocking Silent Histories in 2012 to give indigenous youth a vehicle to express themselves by making cultural documentaries.

DeGennaro, who teaches educational leadership at UNCW, worked in her early research with youth in Philadelphia, the Dominican Republic and Dorchester, Massachusetts. That inspired her to move to Guatemala for two years where she worked with Maya youth, collaborating with them to develop a model addressing the digital divide, culturally responsive learning, and social justice education.

It formed the basis for Unlocking Silent Histories, and the nonprofit expanded to the United States in 2016 with a Lumbee Tribe Chapter in Pembroke.

“My education taught me not to stand outside, separate, or over others, but rather to work with them. In doing so, we gain perspectives and see new possibilities,” DeGennaro says. “Creating new knowledge is only a start; using this knowledge for social change is truly the core of our work.”

DeGennaro and three program leaders from Guatemala presented last year at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian to highlight the work of the youth participating in Unlocking Silent Histories.

ON CHALLENGES

“Struggles certainly can be seen as inhibitors of our future, but they can also be generators of possibilities. Taking the words of the youth with whom I now work, holding true to these laudable goals ‘no es fácil, tampoco es imposible (is not easy, but neither is it impossible)’ – Ana, Chuacruz, Respetar. Learning with these youth, I am reminded that struggles are not meant to be detrimental. Rather they motivate growth, visions, reflections, and most of all enable us to become agents of our own lives.”

LISA GIACOMELLI

Science Instructor, Wilmington Academy of Arts & Sciences

Parents of Lisa Giacomelli’s students point to her work inside and outside the classroom as evidence of her devotion to teaching.

Giacomelli teaches high-school level, lab-based science courses (biology, chemistry/physics, and earth & environmental) to middle school students at Wilmington Academy of Arts & Sciences. They earn two high school credits after completing the program.

“To my knowledge, we are the only middle school in the area – maybe the state – where students can take high school level science and earn credit through lab-based interactions with an actual teacher, rather than online through virtual,” Giacomelli says.

For her students, experiments often jump off the pages – such as using 1,500 ping pong balls and liquid nitrogen to demonstrate chemistry principles or checking egg embryos to demonstrate biology principles.

“There is never a dull moment in my classroom, and that is, in my opinion, exactly how it should be,” she says.

She also spends hours working with the students on the school’s Science Olympiad team as its head coach.

A teacher for ten years – five at WAAS – Giacomelli has earned several awards such as Outstanding Middle School Coach of the Year in North Carolina-Science Olympiad and Air Force Association North Carolina Teacher of the Year in STEM.

ON WHY SHE TEACHES

“While this is a big question, the answer is quite simple. It’s the kids. My kids energize me on a daily basis, and they are at the forefront of everything I do. Being a student’s advocate, helping him or her realize they are stronger, more resilient than they ever thought possible and to realize their own true potential is life-changing for both them and me.”

ERIKA MERRIMAN

Executive Director, Oasis NC

In 2011, Erika Merriman helped start Oasis NC, which is dedicated to students with autism. She and co-founder Kim Reinhardt saw a need after talking with parents of their students at Snipes Academy who were looking for educational solutions and supplemental programs for their children with autism.

Oasis started as a summer program and grew into the full-time private school that it is now, serving students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

“Working with the kids and their families has been the most rewarding,” Merriman says. “Some of our middle school students have been with us since they were in kindergarten, and it has been amazing to see their growth and progress over all these years.”

Merriman, who holds degrees in exceptional student education and psychology from the University of Miami and a master’s degree in early childhood special education from the University of Texas, taught special education in Texas for two-and-a-half years and in New Hanover County for three years.

Beyond the typical executive director duties of running the nonprofit and day school, she also teaches social groups to all of the students that attend.

LESSONS LEARNED

“For us, starting small and growing gradually has been very helpful. Mistakes are going to be made, adjustments are going to be needed, and it is much easier to account for those as a small organization. After six years, OASIS NC finally feels like it is what we envisioned it to be, and I can see that although those twists and turns were difficult, they were necessary. Progress, not perfection!”

EMILY LOUISE SMITH

Director of The Publishing Laboratory/Co-Founder and Publisher of Lookout Books and Ecotone, UNCW

A decade ago when Emily Louise Smith began teaching at UNCW, The Publishing Laboratory  – an educational teaching press that guides students through the publishing process and also publishes its own catalog of books – operated from a trailer. And, Lookout Books – the school’s nationally award-winning literary book imprint – didn’t exist.

Her vision for and founding of the imprint, as well as building the publishing curriculum and other opportunities for students, have helped turned the creative writing department’s publishing projects and classes into renowned programs, preparing hundreds of students to enter the publishing profession, innovate, and found their own presses and magazines.

Lookout’s first book, Binocular Vision, made history when it was nominated for all four major national literary awards in 2011 and garnered the National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction. “Since then, we’ve continued to publish nationally recognized books, including our 2016 story collection, which was a nominee for three debut fiction awards,” she says.

Her own poems and essays have appeared in publications such as Best New Poets, the Southern Review, and the recent anthology Literary Publishing in the 21st Century. 

PROUDEST ACCOMPLISHMENT

“Maybe even more than founding Lookout, though, my heart swells when I think of the students I’ve taught and mentored in publishing here at UNCW. The presses they have gone on to work for and books they have championed, not to mention the many still to come, are the Pub Lab’s legacy as much as Lookout, Ecotone, and the authors we’ve launched. They serve as proof that our teaching-press model fosters the innovation that will sustain independent publishing.”

 

To view more of photographer Chris Brehmer's work, visit chrisbrehmerphotography.com.