McDaniel honors alumnus Jason Fitzgerald with 2018 Bailer Award

McDaniel College alumnus Jason Fitzgerald is the recipient of the College's 2018 Joseph R. Bailer Award. 

The prestigious award, named for one of the College’s most highly respected career educators, is presented each year to a McDaniel College master’s degree recipient who has made a significant contribution to the field of education.

Fitzgerald graduated from McDaniel summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in History and Political Science in 2002. He earned a master’s degree in teaching from the College’s Better Educators for Students of Tomorrow (BEST) program, now the Master of Science in Teaching program, in 2004 and received a certificate in school administration from McDaniel in 2006. He earned a Ph.D. in instruction and learning from the University of Pittsburgh in 2011. 

An associate professor and chair of the education department at Wagner College in Staten Island, N.Y., he also directs the secondary education and higher education and learning organizations leadership (HELO) master’s degree programs. In addition, he teaches secondary social studies and educational technology courses. 

His current research examines the linguistic choices that historical authors have used in text and how those choices influence students’ mental representations of history. In addition, he has written about the implications of civic engagement curricula for both post-secondary and K-12 education.  

Fitzgerald is a former founding Port Richmond Partnership Fellow in Education and the founding professor-in-residence at Port Richmond High School in Staten Island, N.Y. He is a board member of Generation Citizen, a national action civics not-for-profit. He also served as the academic advisor for Wagner College’s Mandela Washington Fellowship program, part of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative. 

The Joseph R. Bailer Award was established by the family of Dr. Bailer, who died in 1974. Bailer was chair of the Education Department at McDaniel College, then Western Maryland College, and also Director of its graduate program from 1949–1971. He was a primary contributor to the growth of the program and influenced the lives of hundreds of graduate students, many of whom have gone on to leadership roles in educational programs both in Maryland and beyond. In the spirit of dedication and professionalism, the Bailer Award is given annually to a former graduate of the master’s program who has subsequently made a significant contribution to the field of education. The award rotates among many of the graduate programs of the college.