WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Dr. Margaret Stover Mertz, Executive Director of the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts, has earned an award from the International Baccalaureate honoring her exemplary service to the organization. 

The International Baccalaureate (IB), which is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, offers high quality programs of international education to a worldwide community of schools. IB’s three programs for students aged 3 to 19 help develop the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world. There are more than 616,000 IB students at 2,316 schools in 127 countries. 

This new award is given to a non-IB staff member, who has advanced the work and ideals of the organization in a creative, visionary way and provided extraordinary service over a period of time. Dr. Mertz was honored at the 40th annual meeting of the Board of Governors for the International Baccalaureate in Atlanta, Georgia.  The 40th anniversary celebrations included the annual Peterson Lecture, given by His Highness the Aga Khan, and a celebratory dinner at the home of former Ambassador Ann Cox Chambers.   

Dr. Mertz was the IB’s Chief Examiner for music from 1995 through 2000, and the Group 6 representative at the Diploma Review Committee 2000 -2005. In 2004, she became Vice-chair of the Examining Board, and was simultaneously a member of the global Professional Development Committee and the IB North America Professional Development Committee.

Dr. Mertz began her involvement with IB in 1991 when she accepted a job of instructor in music at the Armand Hammer United World College of the American West in 1991. She eventually assumed the responsibility of setting assessment standards worldwide and taking on a leadership role in developing curriculum. She later taught professional development workshops for new and experienced IB teachers in such locations as Singapore, Stockholm, Zagreb and Vienna, and many sites throughout North America. 

“What I value most in this award is the recognition of my worldwide friends and colleagues, the people who work on behalf of the International Baccalaureate's mission,” said Mertz. “The IB has profoundly influenced my views of the world, and I know with absolute certainty that the IB community – students, teachers, examiners, volunteers and staff – are working to realize the vision of a better, more peaceful world. I am very proud of my affiliation with the incredible people who are the IB in action, and I am extremely honored by this award.”

Dr. Mertz, who is a 1983 graduate of St. John’s College in Santa Fe, N.M., received an M.A. degree in Music from Harvard University in 1988 and a Ph.D. in Music from Harvard in 1990. She joined the North Carolina School of the Arts faculty in 1999 and was named Executive Director of the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts in 2004.

The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts (www.kenanarts.org) builds partnerships to support creative projects, many of which are associated with the North Carolina School of the Arts (www.ncarts.edu).