Thea Jones, a longtime Baltimore County educator, received the MICCA 2008 Outstanding Technology Leader Award for her passion, leadership and vision in the integration of technology into all instruction.  Ms. Jones established the multi-faceted Office of Instructional Technology for Baltimore County to provide leadership in technology integration to improve student achievement, teacher professional development and virtual learning.  As its supervisor, she has spearheaded a variety of supports for teachers, including the Technology Liaison Program, Elementary Technology Integration Teachers, and Technology Integration Resource Teachers.

Ms. Jones has made numerous presentations at state and  national conferences and has taught educational technology courses at the Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Technology in Education, the College of Notre Dame, and Western Maryland College  (now McDaniel College).   She has been the Project Director for five statewide partnerships under the federal Ed Tech Program—addressing teacher and administrator technology literacy skills and eLearning—and has participated in many others.   Currently she serves on two State-level committees, the Professional Development Advisory Council and the Maryland Instructional Technology Advisory Council.  Ms. Jones has been actively involved in MICCA, having served as president, vice president, conference chair and chair of several other committees.  She now serves as chair of the Grants, Advocacy, and Advisory committees for the organization. 

As an affiliate of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), MICCA forwards the name of State awardees to the international organization as nominees for the ISTE awards of the same name.  ISTE has announced that Thea Jones is its choice for the ISTE 2008 Outstanding Technology Leader Award.  She will receive her award at the annual National Education Computing Conference, to be held in San Antonio, June 29 to July 2.