The NCEast Alliance is pleased to announce that Mr. Bruce Middleton has joined the organization as the Executive Director of the STEMEast Network.
The NCEast Alliance is pleased to announce that Mr. Bruce Middleton has joined the organization as the Executive Director of the STEMEast Network. Mr. Middleton succeeds Dr. Steve Hill who resigned his post as Executive Director effective November 31, 2016. Dr. Hill accepted the Superintendent position of Bertie County Schools. Dr. Hill served as executive director for the STEMEast Network for seven years. During that time, he was instrumental in developing partnerships between educators and employers to further implement STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Education throughout eastern North Carolina.
The STEMEast Network was created in 2009 and has assisted member county school districts in securing roughly $14 million which assisted with the development of STEM strategies that benefit teachers, students and ultimately employers and communities. Additionally, STEMEast has been instrumental in establishing 55 STEM centers in middle schools throughout the region. In 2016, STEM East, in association with The Burroughs Wellcome Fund, was chosen to represent North Carolina as one of twenty-seven entities across the country to participate in the STEM EcoSystem established by the National STEM Funders Network (NSFN). The NSFN will collaborate with these 27 organizations to promote and develop STEM education in their respective regions throughout the US.
To ensure a successful transition, Dr. Hill along with NCEast CEO John D. Chaffee selected Bruce Middleton to serve as part time interim director for the STEM East Network in December. Mr. Middleton transitions into to the full-time, Executor Director position for the STEM East Network as of January 31, 2017. “Mr. Middleton comes to us with a wealth of related experience to move us along an exciting path established by Dr. Hill,” said John D. Chaffee, President & CEO of the NCEast Alliance and Co-Chair of the Employers and Superintendents Council of Eastern North Carolina. “We had several excellent candidates,” continued Mr. Chaffee, “but Bruce stood out as an exceptional candidate that impressed the search committee and won endorsements from both employers and school superintendents.”
Bruce Middleton is a career educator having held positions as a teacher and administrator for the Alamance and Orange County, North Carolina school districts. Among his various positions, Bruce served as an Executive Director of Media and Technology and the K-12 Math and Science Coordinator. He was also employed as a computer systems engineer for Apple Computer, serving schools districts in a three-state area. Most recently he served as a STEM education consultant and as a faculty member of the Smithsonian Science Education Center LASER Institute. Mr. Middleton stated, “NC East Alliance STEMEast has promoted a collaborative STEM ecosystem in this region that is the envy of school districts across the country.” he added, “I look forward to working with our partner school districts and businesses to strengthen the ecosystem to assist our students in preparing for their changing future.”
About STEM East
STEM East, a component of the NCEast Alliance (a regional economic development agency serving 28 counties in eastern North Carolina), has developed partnerships with manufacturers, hospitals and other organizations as well as educational institutions across 11 counties to improve student-learning pathways that will lead to valuable employment. Through the collaboration of multiple businesses, education districts, economic development organizations, chambers, foundations, state and local governments, utilities, and many others, students are enabled to engage in real-world learning modules that directly align with STEM career opportunities in Eastern North Carolina. For more information, visit www.stemeast.org.
About NCEast Alliance
The NCEast Alliance is a regional, public/private, not-for-profit, economic development corporation serving 28 counties with approximately 1.3 million residents within several small metropolitan and micropolitan areas in eastern North Carolina from the fringe of the Research Triangle to the Atlantic Coast. The Alliance provides advocacy, community capacity building, marketing/lead generation, and assists companies with site location and expansion evaluations. For more information on the NCEast Alliance, visit us at www.nceast.org or visit one of our workforce development sites (www.ncworkready.org or www.stemeast.org).