MICUA

MICUA Matters

Fall 2011

McDaniel graduate Michelle Meredith Shearer was named the 2011 National Teacher of the Year by President Barack Obama at a White House ceremony on May 3. The National Teacher of the Year Program began in 1952 and continues as the oldest, most prestigious national honors program that focuses public attention on excellence in teaching.

Shearer taught chemistry at Urbana High School in Frederick County from 1997-2002, then taught chemistry and mathematics at the Maryland School for the Deaf for four years. In 2006, she returned to Urbana and now teaches AP chemistry.

“At a time when our leaders, the media, and others are very concerned about students learning and achieving in STEM-related (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) subjects, Michelle Shearer is our brightest light, our torch of hope in ensuring that all students can do science and math and must,” said Dr. Francis ‘Skip’ Fennell, McDaniel professor of Education and past president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Another McDaniel alumnus, David Martin, was named Teacher of the Year by the American Sign Language Teacher’s Association (ASLTA) at its June conference in Seattle, making him the second 1996 graduate of the College’s master’s program in Deaf Education to garner a prestigious top teacher award.

Author of many papers and a presenter at conferences all over the U.S., Martin has served as a classroom teacher at his own alma mater, the Maryland School for the Deaf, and a drama teacher at the Texas School for the Deaf. He was also the 2010 recipient of the Maryland ASLTA Teacher Excellence Award.

Martin is currently an assistant professor and program manager of ASL Studies at Frederick Community College and an instructor and adjunct lecturer at McDaniel, where he has taught since 2000. In graduate school at McDaniel, Martin took two classes with Michelle Shearer.

McDaniel College has been preparing highly qualified teachers for more than 120 years. The College’s Master of Science degree program in Deaf Education is the largest of its kind in North America and attracts students worldwide to prepare teachers of deaf students.