Bio: Francis (Skip) Fennell, Commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient
Francis (Skip) Fennell, Ph.D.
Doctor of Humane Letters
Skip Fennell is professor emeritus of Education at McDaniel College, where he continues to direct the Elementary Mathematics Specialists and Teacher Leaders Project supported by the Brookhill Institute of Mathematics. A mathematics educator who has experience as a classroom teacher, principal and supervisor of instruction, he is a past president of the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE), the Research Council for Mathematics Learning (RCML) and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).
Widely published in professional journals and textbooks related to PreK-8 mathematics education, Fennell has also played key leadership roles with the National Science Foundation, Mathematical Sciences Education Board and the U.S. National Commission on Mathematics Instruction. He served as a writer for the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM, 2000), the Curriculum Focal Points (NCTM, 2006) and for the Common Core State Standards (CCSSO, 2010). He is a co-writer of “The Formative 5: Everyday Assessment Techniques for Every Math Classroom,” a resource for teachers published in 2017. Fennell also served on the National Mathematics Advisory Panel from 2006-2008, as a member of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) Commission from 2012-2013 and he currently is vice-chair of the CAEP Board of Directors. He has also served as the mathematics advisor for Emmy award-winning PBS shows “Peg + CAT” and “Odd Squad.”
Fennell has traveled across the United States and overseas to provide professional development and consulting support to schools, school districts, state departments of education, colleges and universities. He has received numerous honors and awards, including the L. Stanley Bowlsbey Chair in Education and Graduate and Professional Studies at McDaniel, Maryland’s Outstanding Mathematics Educator, McDaniel’s Ira G. Zepp Distinguished Teaching Award, the Glenn Gilbert National Leadership Award from the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics, the CASE-Carnegie Foundation Professor of the Year (Maryland), the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators’ Distinguished Outstanding Teacher Educator and the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Fennell earned a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education, Mathematics emphasis, from Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania; a master’s degree in Elementary Education, Guidance, from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania; and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, Mathematics Education, from The Pennsylvania State University.
