Dr. Marlow Artis has dedicated over 18 years to supporting students, teachers, families, schools, and districts across North Carolina. In 2008, he began his career at 20 years old with Cumberland County Schools as the Administrative Assistant to the Principal at South View Middle School before becoming a 6th Grade English/Language Arts Teacher and District Professional Development Facilitator. He was a member of the NC Governor’s Teacher Network, placed as the First Runner-Up in the Cumberland County Schools Teacher of the Year Competition after being named Teacher of the Year for South View Middle School and the South View Attendance Area, and was an Emerging Leader for NCPDK. He was also featured as one of the Fayetteville Observer’s 40 Under 40 in 2015.
After departing Cumberland County Schools in 2015, Dr. Artis served as the Academic Support Specialist with Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools’ prestigious Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate Program, where he leveraged experiential learning and high-quality out-of-school-time programming to close opportunity gaps for 4th–12th grade students. While in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, he completed a specially designed intensive administrative internship at Mary Scroggs Elementary, McDougle Middle, and East Chapel Hill High School. He was also a NC Teacher Voice Fellow with Hope Street Group.
In 2017, Dr. Artis embraced the rewarding career challenge of serving as the Inaugural Upward Bound Director for Sampson County Schools, leading a program funded through a $1.3 million U.S. Department of Education federal grant. In this role, he worked to prepare students at Hobbton, Lakewood, and Union High Schools for the collegiate level through a year-round comprehensive college readiness framework. During his two-year tenure, students visited 23 colleges and participated in 69 experiential learning field trips.
Dr. Artis also served as the Director of School Partnerships for the NC Education Corps, where he collaborated with superintendents, chief academic officers, and principals across North Carolina to implement high-impact literacy tutoring programs in elementary schools. His forthcoming children’s book, I’ll Pass on Mrs. Pink’s Class: One Boy’s Quest to Avoid the School’s Toughest Teacher, explores the crucial transition from elementary to middle school.
In 2022, Dr. Artis was appointed Principal of Craven Early College High School, where he has led the school through significant academic and organizational growth. Through collaborative leadership, the school increased grade-level proficiency from 76.1% to 94.9%, improved its school performance grade from a B to an A, and consistently exceeded growth expectations. Under his leadership, the master schedule was expanded to include seven additional courses, including Advanced Placement offerings, and previously unstructured instructional time was repurposed to increase intentional supplemental learning opportunities. Dr. Artis also launched signature student experiences such as OWL CON, a multi-week back-to-school student conference, and OWL FEST, a two-day end-of-year student extravaganza.
A graduate of the North Carolina Principals’ and Assistant Principals’ Association’s Distinguished Leadership in Practice Program, Dr. Artis served on the 2024 State Principal of the Year Selection Committee and was recognized as the 2025 Craven County Schools Principal of the Year and the 2026 Wells Fargo Southeast Region Principal of the Year. In 2026, he was also honored with the Educator Award by the Craven County Branch of the NAACP, named to Western Carolina University’s College of Education and Allied Professions Honor Roll of Peak Performers, and completed the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill World View Education Leaders Program. Continuing his commitment to educational leadership and innovation at the state level, Dr. Artis was selected as an inaugural member of the 2026–2027 North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Innovation Leadership Council.
Dr. Artis elevates teacher voice and promotes positive narratives about North Carolina’s public schools as the Creator, Moderator, and Chief Content Purveyor for the multifaceted educational platform Tar Heel Teachers. The platform includes a website, panel talk show, interview series (Tar Heel Teachers at Home), travel series (Tar Heel Teachers on the Road), micro-series (Tar Heel Teachers Daily), book club, and special presentations.
Dr. Artis earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master of School Administration from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from Western Carolina University.