Speakers

Olivia Lewis

Eighth Grade World History and United States History 
Sheridan School District

Olivia Lewis has been teaching Eighth Grade World History and United States History in the Sheridan School District for 8 years. She serves as the current President of the Arkansas Council for the Social Studies. Her love of teaching history has awarded her multiple recognitions including the State Recipient of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation, Grant County Teacher of the Year Award, Arkansas Council for the Social Studies Novice Teacher of the Year, and National History Day Novice Teacher of the Year. She holds a B.A. in History from the University of Arkansas, a M.A.T from the University of Arkansas, and a M.A. in History from the University of Central Arkansas. She currently resides in Hensley, Arkansas with her husband, young daughter, and two feisty dachshunds.

Melissa Starkey

Program Advisor for Social Studies
Arkansas Department of Education Division of Elementary and Secondary Education

Melissa Starkey is Program Advisor for Social Studies at the Arkansas Department of Education Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Prior to her work at DESE, Melissa taught middle school history, high school history, AP World and U.S. history, and concurrent credit history courses. Her passion for social studies education led to her current role at the Division in August 2018. This is her 13th year in education. She is excited to advocate for social studies education, support teachers, and provide professional development opportunities for educators across the state. Melissa loves to network with teacher leaders and stakeholders to provide the best possible opportunities for educators. She holds a B.S.E. in Social Science from Henderson State University, M.S.E. in Teacher Leadership (GT) from UCA, and an Ed.S in Educational Leadership (history) from UCA.

Marsha Masters

Associate Director
Economics Arkansas

Marsha Masters joined Economics Arkansas in 2009 and currently serves as Associate Director. Prior to joining Economics Arkansas, she was a public school educator for almost 25 years. Marsha's duties include coordinating the Stock Market Game program, the Bessie B. Moore Arkansas Awards Program, the Economics Arkansas District Partnership program, and leads program as well as leading workshops and in-services statewide.

Ann Clements

Education Outreach Coordinator
Arkansas Humanities Council 

Serving as the Education Outreach Coordinator for the Arkansas Humanities Council, Ann Clements works with teachers across Arkansas to spread humanities education throughout the state, processes grant applications and develops new programming for the Council. Her love of history and civics education served as a touchstone throughout her 30 years in state government. She served as the first State Capitol Historian, Director of the Louisiana Purchase Statewide Bicentennial, Director of the Secretary of State’s Communication and Education Department and a Program Specialist at the Arkansas State Archives. Clements enjoys live music, historical fiction, promoting her historic Argenta neighborhood, and travels to new places.

Stefanie Wager

Education Partner Manager
The OER Project                  

Stefanie Wager is the Education Partner Manager for the OER Project. Prior to this role, she served at the Iowa Department of Education providing leadership and guidance at the state level for social studies, financial literacy, and world languages. She also taught high school social studies for Des Moines Public Schools and Dallas Center-Grimes Schools and worked at Instituto Thomas Jefferson in Naucalpan, Mexico. In addition, Stefanie formerly served as the coordinator of a Teaching American History Grant. She received both a Bachelors and Masters degree from Drake University in Des Moines, IA. Stefanie is the current President of the National Council for the Social Studies. In 2011, Stefanie was named an Emerging Leader in Education by ASCD. Stefanie lives in Grimes, IA with her husband Jake, who is also a social studies teacher, and their two children.

Kayla Fletcher

Education Program Coordinator
ArkansasIDEAS

Kayla Fletcher is a multi-experienced educator, digital producer, LMS instructional designer, and outreach coordinator. She started with a BA in journalism (emphasis in public relations and broadcast) and earned another BA in Secondary Education (emphasis in social studies and sciences), both from Arkansas Tech University. Upon graduation, she was employed with Virtual Arkansas for four years as a Social Science Instructor and taught the following courses: Civics, Arkansas History, World Geography, Sociology, and Economics.

Since the summer of 2018, she has been employed with the Arkansas PBS station in Conway, Arkansas. She started as an education and instruction specialist, designing professional development courses in collaboration with the Arkansas Department of Education. She is now the Education Program Coordinator and leads all outreach and training efforts for the ArkansasIDEAS team.

Kristy Brasfield

High School Teacher
Blytheville High School, Blytheville School District              

Kristy Brasfield is a high school social studies teacher at Blytheville High School in Blytheville, Arkansas. Kristy has taught social studies for 8 years, and is the Faculty Advisor for the Interact Club and the Rho Kappa National Social Studies Honor Society. She holds a B.S.E. in Social Science, M.S.E. in Education Theory & Practice, and an Ed.S. in Educational Leadership - Curriculum Director, all from Arkansas State University. She is currently completing her dissertation in the Education Doctoral program at Arkansas State University.   Kristy has also served as a Reader for AP World History for the last five years, and will serve as an Early Table Leader for the 2021 Read in June. She is a current board member for the Arkansas Council for the Social Studies (ACSS) and the Rho Kappa Advisory Team for the National Council for the Social Studies, and was recently appointed to the National Constitution Center’s Teacher Advisory Committee

Jessica Brown

High School Teacher
Parkers Chapel High School, Parkers Chapel School District

Jessica Brown has been a teacher at Parkers Chapel High School for the past 14 years. She currently teaches Psychology, AP U.S. History, and AP Psychology. She was named Arkansas History Teacher of the Year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in 2019. She is also a participant in the Arkansas Declaration of Learning Program through the U.S. Department of State and will soon be a teacher mentor in the Virginia Declaration of Learning program based at Mount Vernon. This program places primary source documents in the hands of teachers so that they can create source-based lessons tied to a civic engagement project. Mrs. Brown's students produced a documentary on the Japanese Internment camps in Arkansas entitled Forgetting Ourselves. In addition, she is also the director of her high school's Makerspace, a lab where students go to create projects for their classes using a variety of techniques such as 3D modeling and printing, textile manufacture, graphic design, sewing and embroidery, robotics, videography, and drone piloting.

Dr. Neil Oatsvall

Chair of the Arts and Humanities Department
Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts

Neil Oatsvall is Chair of the Arts and Humanities Department and History and Social Science Instructor at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, a public, residential high school for gifted tenth, eleventh, and twelfth graders. He has published in various outlets, including Agricultural History, Environment and History, and Gastronomica: The Journal of Critical Food Studies. His book manuscript, Atomic Environments: Nuclear Technologies, the Natural World, and Policymaking, 1945-1960, is under advanced contract with the University of Alabama Press. He currently resides in Hot Springs, Arkansas with his wife, their two young girls, his in-laws, and a cat who cannot decide whether she wants to live inside or outside.

Rebecca Luebker 

Social Science Chair
Haas Hall Academy

Rebecca Luebker is the Social Science Chair at Haas Hall Academy and is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation. In 2017 she was the Gilder Lehrman Arkansas History Teacher of the Year. In 2019 she was selected to be in the Inaugural Cohort of the Computer Science Teachers Association Equity Fellows. Teaching areas include AP US History, AP US Government and Politics, AP Comparative Government and Politics, AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics. Rebecca's passion in U.S. History is the inclusion of Native American perspectives in contemporary history.

Martene Campbell

History and Social Science Department Chair
Episcopal Collegiate School

Martene Campbell is the History and Social Science Department Chair at Episcopal Collegiate School. She teaches United States History, AP United States History, an elective on the Vietnam War, and Debate. Additionally, she coaches the Episcopal Debate Team. In recent years, she has been recognized as the Little Rock City Education Trust Teacher of the Year, the Gilder Lehrman Arkansas History Teacher of the Year, the Arkansas Communication and Theatre Arts Association Teacher of the Year, the National Federation of High Schools Outstanding Speech, Theatre, and Debate Educator, and the Jackson T. Stephens Teacher of the Year. She also serves as a Question Leader for the AP United States History Reading. She holds a B.A. in Politics from Hendrix College and as a James Madiso Fellow completed an M.A. in American History from the University of Central Arkansas. She currently resides in Little Rock, Arkansas with her husband and their dog, Wilson. 

Dr. Randell E. Trammell

Author
 

Dr. Randell E. Trammell is a self-described “civic busy body.” Hailing originally from Dalton, Georgia, his Appalachian drawl is matched by his southern charm and gentle manner. A bit of an academic quandary, Trammell has a Bachelor’s of Religion (with a focus on education), Master of Business Administration— both from Reinhardt University, and a Doctorate of Education with a focus on organizational leadership and communication. His research dissertation on experiential civic education, however, is what lit a fire within him. During his doctoral research, Trammell discovered that there was a deep void in resources for teachers and students in the area of civic education in Georgia. Understanding the vital importance of an educated citizenry, his mission was born—and so was the Georgia Center for Civic Engagement, now a nonprofit organization dedicated to civic education. Trammell is a member of the Georgia Commission on Civics Education, the National CivX Now Coalition, and more.

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