McDaniel College Awards Two Dorchester County Teachers Full Scholarships for School Librarianship

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Michele Tota of North Dorchester High School, Mona Kerby, coordinator of the school library program at McDaniel College, and Talibah Chikwendu of North Dorchester Middle School

WESTMINSTER, MD (03/25/2013)(readMedia)-- Two teachers from Dorchester County have received full scholarships toward earning master's degrees in school librarianship from McDaniel College, Westminster, Md.

Recipients are Talibah Chikwendu, English and mathematics long-term substitute teacher at North Dorchester Middle School, and Michele Tota, English and journalism teacher at North Dorchester High School.

McDaniel College received a prestigious Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program Grant for nearly $240,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which helped fund the student scholarships. McDaniel awarded 12 full scholarships to students who are currently teachers in underserved regions of Maryland. The college has also converted its School Librarianship graduate program to completely online to accommodate these students from across Maryland.

According to Mona Kerby, coordinator of the school library program at McDaniel, the scholarships go a long way in improving education in high-needs schools.

"It means that not only will a dozen teachers benefit but every child in their schools will benefit from having a professional librarian on staff," said Kerby.

For more information about McDaniel College and the graduate program in school librarianship, visit www.mcdaniel.edu/graduate.

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McDaniel College, recognized nationally among "40 Colleges that Change Lives" and U.S. News top-tier liberal arts colleges, is a four-year private college of the liberal arts and sciences offering more than 70 undergraduate programs of study, including dual and student-designed majors, plus more than 25 highly regarded graduate programs. Its hallmark faculty-student collaborations in research, teaching and mentoring plus hundreds of leadership and service opportunities enrich a lively learning experience that is rooted in a personalized interdisciplinary and global curriculum. Innovative January courses take students to points all over the world while McDaniel's degree-granting European campus offers a unique opportunity for international study at the only American university in Budapest, Hungary. A diverse and close-knit community of 1,600 undergraduates and 1,560 part-time graduate students, McDaniel also boasts a spectacular 160-acre hilltop campus in Westminster, Md., an hour or less from Baltimore, D.C., the Chesapeake Bay, an Amtrak station and BWI international airport.