Art education alumni win top awards at state conference
Two alumni of the Department of Art & Art History’s art education program brought home top honors from the 2026 North Carolina Art Educators Association conference, held Oct. 22-25 in New Bern, N.C.
Named NCAEA 2026 “Elementary Educator of the Year,” Kaitlyn Linscheid ’20 received the additional award of “North Carolina Art Educator of the Year,” the highest honor for an art teacher in the state. Vanessa VanDerveer ’24 received the NCAEA “Rookie Educator of the Year” award.
These are not the first awards for Linscheid, who teaches at Matthews Elementary School in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools system. She was the 2024-25 Matthews Elementary Teacher of the Year and the CMS K-5 Up and Coming Arts Educator of the Year (from among all of the district’s art, dance and music teachers) and received the 2025 CATO Excellence in Teaching Award from the Arts & Science Council. Linscheid has also been recognized at her alma mater with a 2025 “10 Under Ten” Award from the Gold Alumni Network.
“The art education program had such a supportive slate of professors that truly cared about my success in teaching art,” Linscheid said. “They offered support, guidance, and equipped me to make a difference in the lives of so many young artists. Because of them, I am qualified to teach the best art practices and serve hundreds of students year after year.”
VanDerveer did not originally plan to teach art. In 2019, she earned a B.S.B.A. in Business Administration and Law with a minor in criminal justice from Western Carolina University.
“Shortly after graduating, though, I knew that I would never be truly happy if I wasn’t doing art in some way,” she said. VanDerveer decided to enroll at UNC Charlotte to pursue a career in art education. She now teaches at Rock Rest Elementary in Union County.
“My work in the art education program prepared me for this job in such a profound way,” said VanDerveer. “The team of professors taught us tricks of the teaching trade of course, but what made the program special is that they treated us like professionals from the start. I felt prepared for the reality of teaching and also felt supported and encouraged to take my skills beyond the classroom in a very short time after graduation.”
Art education professor Jane Dalton was present at the NCAEA awards ceremony.
“We are incredibly proud of both Vanessa and Kaitlyn and the impact they are making in art education across North Carolina,” she said.