For nearly five decades, the name Francis “Skip” Fennell has been synonymous with Education programs on the Hill. The professor emeritus, who arrived at McDaniel (then Western Maryland) College in 1976, is a nationally and internationally renowned mathematics educator, researcher, and subject matter expert. He is a past president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators, the Research Council on Mathematics Learning, and past chair of the U.S. National Commission on Mathematics Instruction. His work is widely published in professional journals and books related to PreK-8 mathematics education, math specialists, and formative assessment.
Now, thanks to the generosity of President Emerita Joan Develin Coley and Trustee Emeritus M. Lee Rice ’48, Fennell’s name will continue to be a mainstay in the college’s legacy of preparing future educators. Coley and Rice’s recent gift to the college to name an Education lab in Fennell’s honor will provide space and equipment to ensure the next generation of teachers coming out of McDaniel will be equipped to change lives in schools around the country.
Fennell was caught off guard by the announcement at the 2024 Founders Society Celebration of the gift made in his honor. He says the honor humbled him and was made even more special by the donors, who he considers lifelong friends and inspirations to be a better teacher educator.
“Joan and I worked together for a long time. She was the reading expert when I was the math expert,” Fennell says. “We worked in tandem at the undergraduate level before she became graduate dean and then provost. She also developed and ran the college’s reading clinic, and I was inspired by her to set up a math clinic, which led to the emphasis I’ve put on math specialists in elementary schools ever since.”
He recalls that Coley has often referred to her husband, Lee Rice (who studied Mathematics and Physics on the Hill), as a “rock star scientist.”
“Lee and I used to have great discussions about what is going on with mathematics in this country and what we could do to make it better,” Fennell says. “Everything that Joan and Lee have done — both together and separately — for this college is amazing, and I’m happy to now be part of that portfolio.”
While the plans for the Fennell Education Lab are still in the beginning stages, Fennell’s expertise in the field allows him to recognize the benefits of smaller, seminar-type classes, a value that is already inherent in the college’s philosophy.
“It’s important that you can really discuss and become engaged with your classmates and your professors,” he says. “In our field, we must engage prospective teachers and graduate students with manipulative materials, access to technology, and the ability to work through mathematics and reading concepts in a hands-on, discussion-focused manner.”
Fennell hopes the lab will allow students to explore and become proficient in the subject, and then take the next step off the Hill: “I want them to be able to learn and then say, ‘OK, now how am I going to take what we just did into a fourth grade classroom at William Winchester or Robert Moton Elementary School?’
Fennell has had a vantage point of the legacy of Education on the Hill that only a handful of others have, and he is excited about continuing that legacy.
“We don’t get the credit that state institutions that were founded for teacher education do, but so many of our students over the years have pursued full majors in their subject areas and stacked Education on top of it,” Fennell says. “We’re going to continue to make a significant contribution to the field at a time when we need many, many more teachers in this world.”
With the introduction of new programs in Early Childhood Education and the Teacher Collaborative Fellowship providing increased access to an accelerated Master of Science in Teaching to help address the teacher shortage in the state, Fennell says it’s all about one thing here on the Hill:
“McDaniel is special. It’s why I came here and why I continue to be here almost five decades later. I’m honored beyond belief that my name will be associated with Education on the Hill for many years to come. I can’t thank my dear friends Joan and Lee enough for that gift — not just to the college but to me.”
