Ohio Northern University’s Department of Education and the Center for Teacher Education will present “The Heart of a Teacher” in the forum of James F. Dicke Hall on Tuesday, Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, and a reception will follow in the atrium of Dicke Hall.
Guest speakers Stephanie Carr, a 2005 ONU graduate, and Joe Virant, a 2003 ONU graduate, will speak on their personal experiences and focus on “taking a hand, opening a mind and touching a heart.” The purpose of the event is to engage and inspire prospective students, teacher candidates, local educators and ONU faculty.

Carr, who earned her Bachelor of Arts in English/language arts and German education, was voted the 2013 teacher of the year at Wright Middle School in Nashville, Tenn. The school is located in an urban, high-poverty environment where 70 percent of the student population does not speak English in their homes.

Earning her master’s degree from Vanderbilt, Carr was a presenter at the national conference of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the NCTE. She also is a member of the Board of Directors of Mountain T.O.P. (Tennessee Outreach Project).

Virant, who was voted the 2006 teacher of the year at Katy Independent School District in Houston, Texas, taught fifth-grade language arts and social studies and eighth-grade U.S. history from 2003-07. In 2007, he supported 200 teachers as an instructional technology facilitator and, in 2009, became an IT coordinator and led mobile learning projects with more than 2,000 students on Android platform devices.

He also was a conference presenter for Texas Computer Education Association, International Society for Technology in Education, and Texas Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.