We are very happy to announce that Dr. Annie Whitlock from University of Michigan-Flint has been elected President-Elect of MCSS. Annie will become President of MCSS in May 2016. We want to thank all of you who participated in the electronic election.
If you want to get involved with MCSS, contact our Elections Committee at
apontege@mcssmi.org.
I am Annie Whitlock, Assistant Professor of Elementary Education at the University of Michigan-Flint. I am very excited to serve as President of MCSS because I have enjoyed being a part of this organization for over a decade and am ready to give back to the organization that helped me so much in my early career. As social studies educators, we can all agree that we have seen social studies become increasingly marginalized in K-12 classrooms. I want to work on ways MCSS can have a greater presence for K-12 social studies teachers. I would love to see expanded attendance for the MCSS Conference and expanded readership for the MCSS Journal. I would like to see our state chapter become a presence at NCSS, and find more ways for K-12 teachers to attend.
Because I know the importance of curriculum directors and teacher educators advocating for social studies as well, I want to support those that are helping to prepare the future generation of social studies teachers.
My passion has always been to teach social studies to elementary and middle school students. I began my career teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th grade social studies at a charter school in Holland. MCSS was very helpful to me as a first-year teacher to get to know other social studies professionals and gather resources I needed to be successful. I have frequently presented at the MCSS Conference, and have served on the conference planning committee and the editorial board for the MCSS Journal. After serving as a social studies curriculum specialist in Grand Rapids for three years, I moved to Farmington Hills and commute to Flint. I teach the elementary social studies methods course at UM-Flint and do research on the integration of social studies with other subjects and project-based learning in elementary classrooms. I also love collecting children's literature that can be used to teach social studies at all levels, and I am the Chair of the NCSS Notable Trade Books Committee. I attend CUFA and NCSS every year, and often present.
There are so many opportunities for all of us to be involved with MCSS, leaders in our field, and advocates for social studies across the state. I am looking forward to working with all of you and excited for the future!
