Education Alumna Named Michigan Teacher of the Year; Appointed to the Governor’s Educator Advisory Council

Cara Lougheed, M.A., graduate of NSU’s Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice (FCE&SCJ), has been named the 2019-2020 Teacher of the Year by the Michigan State Department of Education and appointed by Michigan Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, to the Governor’s Educator Advisory Council.

She has taught English language arts and history for 21 years in Rochester Community Schools, beginning at Rochester High School in 1998. Over the years, Cara has been a social studies teacher leader, a building activities director, union building representative, and a national delegate representing Rochester at the NEA Representative Assembly each summer. She has worked collaboratively with colleagues and administrators over the years to create and write curriculum and to design an attendance incentive program for students.

Additionally, Cara is an advisory member of Oakland University’s (Rochester, Michigan) Vision 20/20 committee, which seeks the input of classroom teachers in making clearer connections and building relationships between the pre-k-12 and university communities. Currently, she is a student intern and mentor liaison to Oakland University and works in partnership with TeachingWorks and the Michigan Program Network (MiPN) to advance and improve teacher education in Michigan. This collaboration has led to the adoption by the Michigan Department of Education of “Core Teaching Practices” for teacher prep programs in Michigan.

Cara earned her M.A. in Teaching and Learning in 2001 with the FCE&SCJ.