India S. Meissel, a social studies department chair and teacher at Lakeland High School, began a one-year term as president-elect of the National Council for the Social Studies last week.

Terry L. Cherry, a social studies consultant in Mesquite, Texas, also began a one-year term as president on July 1. Meissel is next in line to be president, followed by Tina L. Heafner, a professor at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, who has begun a one-year term as vice-president. Peggy S. Jackson, a retired National Board Certified Teacher in Sandia Park, N.M., assumed the role of past-president.

Joseph Karb, a teacher at Springville Middle School in Springville, N.Y., and Shannon Pugh, a secondary social studies teacher specialist for Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Annapolis, Md., began their second consecutive terms on the NCSS Board of Directors. Joining the Board of Directors for their first terms are Anthony Roy, a teacher at Connecticut River Academy in East Hartford, Conn., and Jesse Haight, a professor at Clarion University in Clarion, Pa.

2017 NCSS House of Delegates Steering Committee Chair Tracy Todd, a teacher at Easley High School, Easley, S.C., will serve a one-year term as an ex-officio member of the board.

As president, Cherry brings to his role rich classroom experiences and perspectives forged through more than 20 years of teaching social studies in Garland, Texas. He is now a consultant for the Korean War Legacy Foundation and the Academy of Korean Studies, an educational adviser to the China Project Hope, the 6th Floor Museum in Dallas, and the Dallas Holocaust Museum, and is active with the Educators Advisory Council of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank. At the local and state level, Mr. Cherry has chaired various committees, and served as past-president of Garland Council for the Social Studies and the Texas Council for the Social Studies.

“It is exciting to welcome new and continuing members to our Board of Directors,” Executive Director Dr. Lawrence Paska said. “I look forward to partnering with our new president and board members and our entire governance team and staff to support the growth of social studies education throughout our country and beyond.”

Full information on the NCSS Board of Directors can be found at www.socialstudies.org/about/board.

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. The NCSS membership represents K-12 classroom teachers, college and university faculty members, curriculum designers and specialists, social studies supervisors and leaders in the various disciplines that constitute the social studies.