Four new faculty members have joined the School of Education: Lisa Dawley, Helyne Frederick, Marisa Marraccini and Chris Scott.
“I am delighted that these scholar-teachers have joined our community,” said Dean Fouad Abd-El-Khalick. “We are investing in hiring top-notch researchers and teachers into targeted areas of our strengths, and these new hires are evidence of our ability to attract strong new faculty. I am confident they will immediately make significant contributions to the work of the School of Education.”
Lisa Dawley
Lisa Dawley joins the School as a clinical associate professor and director of the Master of Educational Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship program.
Dawley has more than 20 years of experience in educational technology entrepreneurship, research and teaching, including work establishing technology companies. She is former CEO and founder of GoGo Labs, a gamified educational technology spinout from Boise State University, where she served as professor and chair of the Department of Educational Technology.
Dawley will work with Keith Sawyer, the Morgan Distinguished Professor in Educational Innovations.
Dawley said she saw the position at the School of Education as an exciting fit, considering her background and the vision for the program.
“The combination of edtech innovation and entrepreneurship is still very rare in higher education,” Dawley said. “The MEITE degree program, combined with the strong faculty and administration, school reputation, the partnership between education and business, and innovation happening in the larger university and Research Triangle context are what sold me on this opportunity. It’s a dream come true.”
Dawley was co-author of the “Going Virtual!” research series studying professional development for K-12 online teachers and authored “The Tools for Successful Online Teaching.” She is also co-founder of the Applied Research in Virtual Environments for Learning Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association, and has served as a proposal reviewer for the National Science Foundation.
Dawley is launching a new course with the Fall semester: Innovations in Game-Based Learning, which will be offered both entirely online and in a blended residential-online format.
Helyne Frederick
Helyne Frederick joins the School as a clinical associate professor and director of the Human Development and Family Studies program.
“I look forward to creating opportunities for students to strengthen their skills in the helping professions,” Frederick said. “I love that the School of Education goes beyond teacher preparation to equipping students with the skills to serve children, families, and communities in diverse contexts.”
The Human Development and Family Studies program is a pre-professional program launched in 2016 that allows Carolina undergraduates to major in a discipline aimed at helping improve the lives of children and families. The program is designed to prepare students for careers and continued education in a variety of “helping professions,” such as education, public health, social work, health services and counseling.
Frederick previously served as an associate professor and program director for the Family and Consumer Sciences Program at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She developed an HDFS program for Winthrop and led the program to obtain the Certified Family Life Educator credential from the National Council on Family Relations. She also served as assistant professor in the Child and Family Studies program at Eastern Kentucky University.
“What drew me to Carolina was its commitment to excellence in teaching, social justice, research, and its strong emphasis on improving the well-being of children, youth and families,” Frederick said. “Carolina is a premier academic institution that provides the quality of training and skills that students need to succeed in a global and diverse society. I am thrilled to be part of the Carolina family and to make the new HDFS program the best in the region and the country.”
Marisa Marraccini
Marisa Marriccini joins the School as an assistant professor of school psychology.
Marriccini comes to Carolina from Rhode Island, where she most recently served as a postdoctoral research fellowship focused on adolescents with suicidal thoughts and behaviors at the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior in the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She earned her master’s degree and her Ph.D. in school psychology with a specialization in research methodology at the University of Rhode Island.
Marraccini’s avenue of research aims to promote child and adolescent mental health in the context of their school settings. Her research is focused on supporting vulnerable populations, including adolescents struggling with suicidal thoughts and behaviors, youth at risk for bullying, students with ADHD, and students misusing prescription opioid and stimulant medication for recreational and academic purposes.
“I am eager to further develop my program of research within the School of Education at UNC, which aims to support youth struggling with suicidal thoughts and behaviors in the context of schools,” Marriccini said. “I am also really looking forward to mentoring graduate students who are passionate about research that translates into supports within school settings.”
She said she is eager to begin work.
“I am especially excited to join in the shared mission of faculty and students and foster the academic and socio-emotional success of children and adolescents within a social justice framework,” she said.
Chris Scott
Chris Scott joins the Educational Leadership and Policy faculty as a clinical assistant professor.
Scott, who is a native of Robeson County in southeastern North Carolina, completed his bachelor’s degree at Appalachian State University in Boone as a North Carolina Teaching Fellow. He has two degrees from Carolina’s School of Education: A master’s degree in school administration and an Ed.D. degree in educational leadership.
Before joining the School of Education faculty, he served as a learning improvement officer of Federal Way Public Schools in Seattle, Wash.
His career includes six years of teaching, three years as an assistant principal, ten years as a principal and one year coaching principals in North Carolina and Washington. He has taught at schools in Raleigh and Greensboro. He served as principal at Fuller Gifted and Talented Magnet Elementary School in Raleigh and at two elementary schools in Washington.
Scott is a frequent presenter to educational groups on his background as a Lumbee American Indian, school leadership, closing achievement gaps and mentorship.