The UNC School of Education honored three alumni at its 2026 Distinguished Alumni Awards ceremony held Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, at the George Watts Hill Alumni Center on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.
Recognized at the event were Carol H. Artis (’86 A.B.Ed.), assistant superintendent for Wayne County Public Schools and recipient of the Distinguished Leadership Award; Terrell R. Morton (’17 Ph.D.), associate professor of identity and justice in STEM education at the University of Illinois Chicago and recipient of the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award; and Cara Faulkner Ward (’99 B.A., ’00 M.A.T.), assistant professor of social studies in the Watson College of Education at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award.
Amy Rickard (’94 A.B.Ed., ’00 M.S.A.), Alumni Council president and principal of Morris Grove Elementary in Chapel Hill, emceed the event, and Hamm delivered remarks on behalf of the School.
“Our Distinguished Alumni Awards celebrate graduates who take what they gained at Carolina and use it to make a lasting impact in the schools and communities they serve and in their professional and academic fields,” said Jill V. Hamm, dean of the School and William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education. “Carol, Terrell, and Cara each attended Carolina at different times and pursued different degrees here, yet their varied professional accomplishments share a commitment to excellence and a people-focused approach to improving lives through education.”
Read more about each recipient below.
Carol H. Artis (’86 A.B.Ed.) | Distinguished Leadership Award
As assistant superintendent of Wayne County Public Schools, Carol H. Artis helps lead the district’s teaching and learning efforts after four decades of service to the school system. Throughout her career, she has also mentored educators into leadership roles, with more than 15 WCPS educators moving into positions such as assistant principal, principal, coordinator, or director under her mentorship.
During Artis’ tenure in district leadership, WCPS has seen notable academic gains. Over the past three years, the district’s academic ranking has risen from 91st among North Carolina’s 115 school districts to 51st, while 12 of the 16 schools previously identified as low-performing have come off the state’s low-performing list.
Artis earned her bachelor’s degree from Carolina in 1986 before completing a Master of Education and a Master of School Administration at Campbell University. She later earned her doctorate in educational leadership from Gardner-Webb University.
Artis began her career with WCPS as a teacher in 1986, spending 12 years in the classroom before moving into school and district leadership. She went on to serve as a curriculum coordinator, assistant principal, and principal before becoming executive director of curriculum, instruction, and federal programs in 2014. In 2022, she was named assistant superintendent, a role in which she helps guide the district’s curriculum, instruction, and annual planning.
Her contributions to WCPS have also included developing the Lead Remediation Plan for Edgewood Community Developmental School and leading efforts that secured $1.2 million in annual Developmental Day Funding for the school. She has trained WCPS principals in data literacy and helped secure more than $1.5 million in grant funding for the district annually.
Beyond the district, Artis serves on the board of the North Carolina Association of Elementary Educators and is involved with professional organizations focused on education and school leadership. She has credited her parents, both of whom modeled service to others, with shaping her own commitment to education and the Wayne County community.
The Distinguished Alumni Awards recognize exceptional service in furthering the mission and programs of the School. The recipient will have demonstrated exceptional leadership in advancing the learning opportunities available to the School’s community of alumni, faculty, and students.
Terrell R. Morton (’17 Ph.D.) | Young Alumnus Award
As associate professor of identity and justice in STEM education at the University of Illinois Chicago, Terrell R. Morton examines how identity shapes the persistence and engagement of racially minoritized students in postsecondary STEM education. His work draws on critical race theory, phenomenology, and human development to better understand Black students’ experiences and how their identities are expressed within STEM learning environments.
Morton also works to advance approaches to STEM education that center identity and justice while creating more supportive experiences for Black students. His scholarship considers how educational systems, cultures, and practices can better recognize students’ identities and experiences.
Morton earned a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University in 2011 and a master’s degree in neuroscience from the University of Miami in 2013. He came to Carolina to earn his Ph.D. in education with a concentration in Learning Sciences and Psychological Studies in 2017. His dissertation examined the influence of identity expression on STEM identity and retention among Black women participating in undergraduate research experiences.
At UIC, Morton serves as program coordinator for the human development and learning undergraduate major and as faculty director of the DuSable Scholars Program. The program supports students underrepresented in STEM as they progress toward graduation and prepare for research-based graduate and professional programs.
Beyond UIC, Morton holds leadership roles within organizations focused on education and STEM research. He serves as associate editor of the Journal of Black Excellence in Engineering, Science, and Technology, is chair designate of the American Educational Research Association’s Social Justice Action Committee, and serves on the board of directors for NARST, A Global Organization for Improving Science Education Through Research.
Morton’s work has earned recognition from UIC and national education research organizations. His honors include UIC’s Research and Scholarship Rising Star in Social Sciences Award, the American Educational Research Association’s Scholars of Color in Education Early Career Contribution Award, and awards from the National Association for Research in Science Teaching and the Comparative & International Education Society African Diaspora Special Interest Group.
The Young Alumnus/Alumna Award recognizes a recent graduate from the UNC School of Education who has shown outstanding leadership and/or exceptional commitment to the education of children. The recipient of this award personifies the mission of the School of Education by emphasizing the interconnectedness of homes, schools, and communities through both professional and volunteer work.
Cara Faulkner Ward (’99 B.A., ’00 M.A.T.) | Excellence in Teaching Award
As an assistant professor of social studies in the Watson College of Education at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Cara Faulkner Ward prepares future educators while advancing research on social studies education. Her scholarship examines historical thinking and how racialized violence is represented in curriculum standards, with work published in several peer-reviewed journals.
A North Carolina native, Ward grew up and attended school in the state without learning about the 1898 Wilmington coup and massacre. The event, now recognized as the only successful overthrow of a lawfully elected government in U.S. history, became a focus of her teaching and scholarship.
For the past decade, Ward has taught the history of the Wilmington coup and massacre in her UNCW courses, reaching more than 900 students. Nearly 400 of those students have joined her on place-based walking tours of downtown Wilmington, where they examine sites connected to the events of 1898.
In 2024, Ward and her colleagues received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to plan and direct “Wilmington 1898: Geographies of Rage, Resistance, and Resilience,” UNCW’s first summer teacher institute since the 1990s. The two-week residential program brought middle and high school teachers to campus to deepen their understanding of the coup and massacre and develop curriculum for their own classrooms.
Ward’s work with educators and students extends beyond the institute. She organized a UNCW-sponsored workshop for New Hanover County teachers in 2019 and has led elementary and secondary students on walking tours focused on 1898 since 2022. In 2025, she organized another workshop for regional teachers at UNCW.
Ward earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and an M.A.T. in Secondary Social Studies from Carolina before completing her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Administration at UNC Wilmington. Through her teaching and scholarship, she continues to expand opportunities for students and educators to engage with the history of Wilmington and consider its broader significance.
The Excellence in Teaching Award recognizes a teacher whose creativity and knowledge of a discipline have been expressed through the development of an innovative and compelling curriculum. The recipient will exemplify the arts of teaching that School programs support.
Recipients of each award are chosen by committee members of the School’s Alumni Council.