EdNC. Essential education news. Important stories. Your voice.

Search ednc.org

North Carolina School Superintendents’ Association announces Dr. Samuel Houston Jr. Leadership Awards

Share this story

Our republishing policy

EdNC is a nonprofit, online, daily, independent newspaper. All of EdNC’s content is open source and free to republish. Please use the following guidelines when republishing our content.
  • Our content must be republished in full. If your organization uses a paywall, the content must be provided in full for free.
  • Credit our team by including both the author name and EdNC.org in the byline. Example: Alex Granados, EdNC.org.
  • If republishing the story online, please provide a link to EdNC.org or a link to the original article in either the byline or credit line.
  • The original headline of the article must be used. Allowable edits to the content of the piece include changes to meet your publication’s style guide and references to dates (i.e. this week changed to last week). Other edits must be approved by emailing Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected].
  • Photos and other multimedia elements (audio, video, etc.) may not be republished without prior permission. Please email Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected] if you are interested in sharing a multimedia element.
  • If you republish a story, please let us know by emailing Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected].
Please email Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected] if you have any questions. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Canonical tag

Please include the following canonical tag in the <head> of the republished story.

<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.ednc.org/north-carolina-school-superintendents-association-announces-dr-samuel-houstonjr-leadership-awards-for-2023/">

HTML content

This includes the title, byline, content, and tracking pixel required for republishing this story.

Copy & paste HTML
This story is tagged:
Jack Hoke, Tracy Grit, Chris Poston, Jennifer Reed, Lutashia Dove, and Sam Houston (from right to left). Photo courtesy of the North Carolina School Superintendents' Association

The North Carolina School Superintendents’ Association (NCSSA) and the North Carolina Alliance for School Leadership Development (NCASLD) have announced the selection of the following as the recipients of the Dr. Samuel Houston Jr. Leadership Award: Dr. Lutashia Dove, Director PreK-Elementary, Edgecombe County Public Schools; Dr. Tracy Grit, Associate Superintendent for Operations and Human Resources, Montgomery County Schools; Mr. Chris Poston, Executive Director for Excellence and Opportunity, Chatham County Schools; and Dr. Jennifer Reed, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, Buncombe County Schools. This annual award is presented to graduates of the NCSSA/NCASLD Aspiring Superintendent Program; a program designed to empower transformational education leaders for North Carolina’s public schools. 

The award is named in honor of Dr. Samuel Houston who is President and Chief Executive Officer of the North Carolina Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education Center. Dr. Houston served as superintendent of the Mooresville Graded School District for ten years where he opened the first year-round school in North Carolina. Dr. Houston has been a champion for strategic planning, student performance and accountability, meeting the needs of the 21st century workforce, skills for the STEM world, and building education partnerships. Dr. Houston also served as the first executive director of the University of North Carolina Center for Leadership Development. 

Dr. Houston was awarded the Jay Robinson Leadership Award as an Exemplary Educator for his outstanding contributions to statewide public K–12 education. He also earned the RJR-Nabisco Foundation’s China Breaker Award for implementing educational change. He has been inducted into the Appalachian State University Reich College of Education’s Rhododendron Society and East Carolina University’s Education Hall of Fame and has received the Distinguished Career Award from the University of North Carolina – Greensboro School of Education. He has also been inducted into the North Carolina School of Science and Math Hall of Fame. 

NCSSA Executive Director Jack Hoke said, “Dr. Lutashia Dove, Mr. Chris Poston, Dr. Tracy Grit and Dr. Jennifer Reed exemplify the traits that guided Dr. Sam Houston’s career in educational leadership. They have a commitment to continuous improvement, high standards of ethical conduct, strategic planning, improving student performance and meeting the needs of the 21st century workforce. I am very proud of these Dr. Samuel Houston Jr. Leadership Award winners and look forward to seeing them progress in their education career.”

Share this story