The IHC Teacher Advisory Council (TAC) advises on our summer teacher institute, K-12 grants, and educational resources. We value the expertise of educators around the state and are proud to have three teachers from every region serving on the TAC.
Cindy Wilson
Chair
Cindy Wilson has been a humanities educator in Idaho for over 30 years, teaching in all regions of our state.She has taught history, government, and civics in Boise, West Ada, Orofino, Shelley, and Pierce. In her current role, Cindy is serving on the iCivics Teachers Council, mentoring new teachers and contracting with school districts to improve curriculum and pedagogy. She teaches courses on managing students discussion through deliberation skills, teaching student voice using evidence and data, discussing controversial topics in the classroom and modeling respectful dialogue. Cindy has been named a Milken National Educator for Idaho. She received the NEA Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence, the Idaho Human Rights Educator of the Year, the Idaho Humanities Council Outstanding Teaching of the Humanities Award and the Concordia Law School Leaders in Action Award. These are just a few of the many awards and recognition Cindy has received as an educator.
Mark Olsen
eastern idaho
Mark Olsen currently serves as the Director of Academics at White Pine STEM Academy, where in addition to serving as an administrator he teaches 6th and 8th graders English and History. Previously, he served as the principal helping the school graduate their first senior class of students. For 19 years, Mark taught English at Kern High School District in Bakersfield, California. He also taught as an adjunct at CSUB, Bakersfield College, BYU-Idaho, and Taft College, and currently teaches two composition courses for the College of Southern Idaho. His first teaching position started in the bush of Alaska in a Yu’pik Eskimo village called Eek. He’s earned two Masters degrees from CSUB in Education Administration and Columbia University in English Teaching. He is the father of five children, one who recently became married, another who is a freshman at Utah State University, a daughter who will soon serve a mission in Santa Maria, Brazil, a sophomore football player, and eighth grade jazz band student. Mark has been observed to comment that Humanities teachers have a kind heart!
Honoré Storms
Eastern Idaho
I am a native Idahoan who loves the story of our great state and the people who have made it that way. I am a recently retired teacher of American History, Sociology, and film history- all topics I remain passionate about. I taught for 34 years and care very much about the direction of public education and the issues that impact students. I am the wife of a hard-working, handsome fellow I hope to grow old with, and a mother of two grown daughters I am incredibly proud of. I am from Southeastern Idaho, but I am also a devoted UIdaho Vandal. I enjoy gardening, travelling, reading good books, being in the fresh mountain air, and doing things I have never done before (to a point).
Kristen Glenn
Eastern idaho
My name is Kristen Glenn. I have worked in education for the past twenty years. My early years were spent in two different high school settings as the reading specialist, English teacher, and speech coach. My later years have been spent in higher education where I have worked with students and staff in both the education and English departments, teaching a variety of courses. I also have worked on committees for curriculum design and accreditation purposes. My main goal for the past years has been to prepare future teachers to go into public education. I believe that teachers who travel, look for opportunities to learn, and are curious about the world around them will build better relationships within their classrooms and communities as well as stay excited and optimistic about learning.
Jim Phillips
north idaho
Jim Phillips has been teaching at Coeur d'Alene High School since 1998. He directs the Jazz Band, Chamber Orchestra, String Orchestra, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble and Marching Band/Pep Band. He served as Chairman of the CHS Fine Arts Department, and is a frequent guest conductor, trumpet soloist, and clinician throughout the Northwest. Ensembles under his direction have been invited to perform at Idaho All-State and NAfME All-Northwest Conventions. Currently, he is the Idaho District 1 Music Educators President and Large Group Festival, and served as Chair for the 2013, 2018, and 2023 Idaho Music Educators Association All-State Orchestra. He was honored by the Mayor of Coeur d'Alene with the 2022 Coeur d'Alene Arts Commission "Excellence in the Arts Award". He has been listed numerous times in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers and has been honored multiple times with the North Idaho Student Teacher Achievement Recognition award for outstanding educators. He lives in Coeur d’Alene, ID with his wife, their four beautiful children, an ever-expanding flock of chickens and three very happy dogs.
Kirsten Pomerantz
north idaho
I have been an instructor in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Idaho for three years. I coordinate our teacher education practicum experiences and our elementary education program. I teach our educational core classes, literacy and social studies methods classes, and practicum and student teaching seminars. I advise undergraduates and masters candidates and support our accreditation systems. Prior to teaching at the university, I spent seven years as a high school English teacher and the previous five years teaching in special education and residential psychiatric settings. I have been teaching and doing program coordination for thirty years in three states and with learners from infancy through adulthood in many different educational and service-oriented settings.
I believe that the humanities are the fruits of many different kinds of human endeavors and that they are also the heart of who we are as people in this world. It is important to me that we help one another to see the ways that the humanities weave through all we do.
Michelle George
north idaho
Michelle George teaches concurrent credit English, Speech, and Drama classes at Orofino Junior - High School. She is a writer, gardener and wanna-be artist and musician. She lives in Orofino, Idaho with her husband, Brad George.
Emily Watkins
southwest idaho
Emily Watkins currently works at One Stone, a student-driven and -directed nonprofit in Boise, where she supports the humanities, social sciences, math, writing, and design thinking! She has always had a passion for education and came to her current role after several years of teaching Pre-K through 8th in public, charter, and private schools in the U.S. and Canada. Always interested in religion, politics, and history, Emily believes the humanities provides much needed context and heart to the human experience. She is eager and excited to be more involved with the Idaho Humanities Council and other educators across the state.
Karen Moss
southwest idaho
Karen Scheffer Moss has been teaching for the past 26 years, and currently teaches AP American Government and Dual Credit Sociology in the Boise School District. She recognizes the importance of using the humanities as a lens through which to teach all of her classes, helping students develop a strong ethical framework to consider the consequences of their actions on both personal and societal levels, and promoting tolerance, empathy, and a global perspective in her classroom. She enjoys hiking, reading, and spending time outdoors. She is an enormous fan of all things Idaho Humanities Council.
Kelly May Richmond
southwest idaho
Kelly May Richmond is a US History teacher at North Junior High in Boise. She has taught in the Boise School district for 23 years after receiving her B.A. in secondary education from Idaho State University and her M.S. in history at Utah State University. She currently serves on the Boise City Arts and History Advisory Team and has been a summer fellow for the Idaho Humanities Council and Gilder-Lehrman Institute. She was recently the recipient of a research grant from the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliff Institute, Harvard. As a third generation Idahoan from a family of educators, she is passionate about the state and its history.