New WCE Leadership Team

The Watson College has a new leadership team! We’re pleased to introduce Associate Deans Heidi Higgins and Symphony Oxendine, Assistant Dean Somer Lewis and Department Chairs Martin Wasserberg and Kevin McClure. (Amy Moody, Chair of the Department of Instructional Technology, Foundations and Secondary Education and Keith Westcott, Assistant Dean for Administration and Resource Management, will continue in their current roles.)

Heidi Higgins

Associate Dean
Teacher Preparation, Assessment, and Accreditation (TPAA)

Heidi Higgins provides leadership for all initial teacher licensure programs and leads college-wide efforts in assessment and accreditation. She supports curriculum review and development and oversees WCE’s Student Success Center, recruitment initiatives, and innovative projects such as the TA2T program, aimed at strengthening the educator pipeline. She also represents WCE on university and statewide committees, works closely with Institutional Research and Planning, and supports data-driven decision-making across programs.

Dr. Higgins joined the Elementary Education faculty at UNCW in 2008 and most recently served as Chair of the Department of Early Childhood, Elementary, Middle, Literacy and Special Education. She assumed the associate dean role in July.

Symphony Oxendine

Associate Dean
Graduate Education, Professional Programs, Faculty Affairs and Research (GPFR)

Symphony Oxendine provides leadership for WCE’s graduate programs in Higher Education, Instructional Technology, Evaluation & Organizational Learning and the Doctorate in Educational Leadership. She also oversees M.Ed. and graduate certificate programs in K-12 education; WCE’s Workforce Learning & Development B.S.; and minors in Leadership Studies and Esports. Her responsibilities also include leading the college's research initiatives, promoting scholarships, and managing faculty affairs. In this role, she works to foster a culture of academic excellence and professional development, ensuring the continued growth and success of WCE's graduate students and faculty.

Dr. Oxendine is Cherokee/Choctaw from Tulsa, Oklahoma. She joined the Higher Education faculty at UNCW in 2017 and most recently served as Assistant Department Chair and Doctoral Coordinator in the Department of Educational Leadership. She assumed the associate dean role in July.

Somer Lewis

Assistant Dean, Office of Partnerships & Engagement
Director, Betty Holden Stike Education Laboratory

In a newly created position, Somer Lewis oversees four units that engage in partnership, outreach, and collaborative activities with schools, industry, and community organizations: P-12 School University Partnerships (which includes WCE’s nationally-recognized PDS Office, the Office of Professional Experiences and Isaac Bear Early College High School); STEM Education and Engagement (which includes STEM SENC and CESTEM); UNCW’s Community College Collaborative (UNCW/3C) and MarineQuest. She also serves as Director of the Education Lab, overseeing the operations of UNCW’s main campus lab, including the Curriculum Materials Center.

Somer has been with UNCW since 2010, serving previously as the PDS School-University Partnership Director, as a Senior Lecturer in Secondary Education and as the Regional Director of the NC New Teacher Support Program. She began her new role in June.

Martin Wasserberg

Chair, Department of Early Childhood, Elementary, Middle, Literacy and Special Education (EEMLS)

Martin Wasserberg assumed the role of chair of the Department of EEMLS on July 1. The department offers programs leading to undergraduate degrees and/or licensure in birth through kindergarten education, elementary, middle grades and special education (general and adapted tracks) as well as graduate degrees and/or licensure in elementary, middle grades, art and language & literacy.

Dr. Wasserberg is an associate professor in WCE’s elementary education program. His research focuses on listening to the voices of marginalized elementary students, and his instruction is largely focused on better preparing teachers to meet the needs of diverse learners.

Before joining the faculty at UNCW in 2010, Dr. Wasserberg was an award-winning elementary teacher and curriculum leader for Miami-Dade County Public Schools. He most recently served as Assistant Chair of the Department of EEMLS.

Kevin McClure

Chair, Department of Educational Leadership (EL)

Kevin McClure assumed the role of chair of the Department of Educational Leadership on July 1. The department offers a minor in leadership studies, master’s programs in School Administration, Curriculum and Instruction, Evaluation and Organizational Learning, and Higher Education. EL also offers a range of post-baccalaureate certificates and a doctoral program in Educational Leadership, with concentrations in Educational Administration, Curriculum and Instruction, Higher Education, and Community College Leadership.

Dr. McClure is a professor of higher education. He joined the faculty at UNCW in 2014 and served as

WCE’s Murphy Distinguished Scholar of Education from 2022 to 2025. He is also co-director of the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges and a regular columnist at The Chronicle of Higher Education, writing the Working Better column on the higher education workplace. His best-selling book, The Caring University: Reimagining the Higher Education Workplace after the Great Resignation, was published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2025.

For more information on WCE’s new leadership team, visit the About Watson webpage.