CHAPEL HILL -- Emerson Waldorf School has selected Joanne Andruscavage as its new director of administration.

Andruscavage is currently the director of administration at the Austin Waldorf School in Texas. Prior to working at Austin Waldorf, she was principal of St. Theresa's School in Austin and of St. Ambrose School in Baltimore.

She also has been a teacher of grades two through nine, holds a bachelor's degree in secondary education from Florida International University and has a master's degree educational management and supervision, with a private school concentration from Loyola College of Maryland. Andruscavage begins her duties July 1.

"I've worked in traditional private schools as well as Waldorf schools, and I am really passionate about what Waldorf has to offer," she said. "It's a developmental and holistic approach that integrates arts and academics, in order to develop each student's unique capabilities to contribute to the world. Sometimes in the pursuit of high test scores, people lose track of the need to nourish a child's sense of beauty, truth, goodness, and a love of learning. Waldorf focuses on the whole child."