LEARN NC taps new director

The UNC School of Education has tapped Melissa Thibault as Executive Director of LEARN NC.

Melissa Thibault served as Acting Executive Director since January 1, 2007, during which time she oversaw the creation of an online Mandarin Chinese/Critical Languages program and a Virtual Mentoring Program to support beginning teachers. Thibault joined LEARN NC in 2000 as Director of Media Services. In 2005, she was named Associate Director. Thibault has worked in public education for ten years, and her experience as a school media specialist gives her insight into the needs of a broad spectrum of educators.

“Melissa has done an outstanding job in her Acting Executive Director role,” said Jill Fitzgerald, Interim Dean of the UNC School of Education. “She has demonstrated very strong interpersonal and communication abilities. LEARN NC is a vital outreach arm of the School of Education, and I know that the organization will thrive under Melissa’s leadership.”

LEARN NC serves more than 25,000 teachers and students each day through its website, delivering lesson plans, best practices, and classroom content directly to schools in all 115 North Carolina school systems, 50 states, and 145 countries.

As Executive Director, Thibault will oversee several new initiatives to connect North Carolina teachers with the expertise and resources of universities, libraries, museums, and their fellow educators. Projects now underway, such as a digital textbook for eighth-grade North Carolina history and a Carolina Online Teacher Program that helps educators adapt to online teaching, will continue to make LEARN NC an indispensible resource for North Carolina’s schools.