07-31-2022 EDU - Flipbook - Page 4
4 The Baltimore Sun | Sunday, July 31, 2022
Graduate programs reflect advances in technology
Preparing students for the next stage in their professional life
Left Photo: Mona Kerby along with students in McDaniel’s master’s in school librarianship program. Right photo: Kim Johnson, who earned her master’s degree in school librarianship from McDaniel in 2012, was named the
Maryland School Librarian of the Year in 2017. A school library media specialist for Carroll County Public Schools, she was also a finalist for Carroll County Teacher of the Year in 2018 and 2019.
By Carol Sorgen, Contributing Writer
A
rthur Lembow, Ph.D., fell in love with
geography his freshman year in college. “I took a geography class to meet
my general education requirements
and thought, ‘This is what I want to do
the rest of my life.’” Forty years later,
Lembow is now a professor of geography and geographic sciences at Salisbury University and the
technical director of the Eastern Shore Regional
GIS Cooperative.
While the field of geographic information
systems (GIS) is not new – “It’s been around
for about 50 years,” says Lembow – advances in
technology have made its use more accessible,
leading to “explosive” job growth. To meet that
demand, Salisbury University not only offers an
undergraduate degree in GIS, but also a Master
of Science degree in geographic systems information management (GISM).
Lembow explains that in the past the failure rate of GIS projects had been quite high.
“That was not a failure of technology though,”
says Lembow, “but rather of management.”
Salisbury’s GISM degree “steps into that void”
and focuses on helping trained GIS professionals become effective mangers. To that end, the
program is targeted toward mid-career GIS professionals who pursue the degree online to more
easily manage their work life and academic life.
Adam Phipps-Dickerson is one such student. At 28, the Snow Hill, Maryland resident is
the GIS coordinator for Ocean City. He started
his undergraduate studies at Salisbury in 2016
as a biology and marine science major but then
got “hooked” on geography when he realized
how powerful GIS technology is and how applicable it is to virtually any career and any issue.
“GIS is not just about mapping,” he says. “We
use it to make decisions about zoning, crime
analysis and construction.”
Phipps-Dickerson is enthusiastic about the
master’s program because it’s a blend of management skills and technical skills. “It sets you
up for success,” he says.
One of the ways the program accomplishes
that is by having the students work on a cooperative project within their own workplace.
“This gives them the opportunity to apply what
they’re learning directly to their own company’s
needs,” says Lembow.
Salisbury’s GISM program is so well-regarded nationally that it was recently honored by
the American Association of Geographers with
its prestigious Program Excellence Award. The
accolade follows several years of national recognition for the program, which has also been
named No. 1 by BestCollegeReviews.org and
consistently rated among the top online graduate GIS programs in the U.S.
“To our knowledge, this is the only program
in the country focused on the management
aspect,” says Lembow, adding that jobs can be
found in a variety of sectors such as government
agencies, banks, engineering firms, defense
industries, “even vineyards…anyplace that has
geographically diverse customers.”
“If someone wants to use GIS, they’ll want
someone to manage it,” says Lembow.
McDaniel’s School Librarianship Master’s Has
Long History
Established in the 1930s, McDaniel College’s
Master’s in School Librarianship (SLM) is a
nationally ranked and fully accredited program
that has a long history of preparing highly
qualified teachers, instructional leaders and
administrators of school library centers. In
2012, the program transitioned to being offered
fully online, the first in the state of Maryland
to do so.
The comprehensive SLM program offers
courses in literature for children and young
adults, technology, information literacy skills,
selecting quality materials that meet the needs
of diverse learners, and administrating a school
library which provides access for all.
“The online format has dramatically
improved the quality of the students’ work and
provides for increased interaction between class
members,” says longtime coordinator Mona
Kerby, Ph.D., the L. Stanley Bowlsbey Endowed
Chair at McDaniel, and the recipient of the 2020
American Association of School Librarians’
Distinguished Service Award. Kerby also serves
as coordinator of the Writing for Children
and Young Adults and Learning Technologies
Specialist certificate programs.
Through the years the program has evolved
to keep up not only with changes in education,
but also the advent and continuing development of technology. “At one time, reference
materials were all books,” says Kerby. “Now we
talk about databases.” Kerby adds that the children’s literature that the students study as part
of the curriculum is also much more current
with more focus on diversity, both in terms of
topics and characters.
The 36-credit SLM meets Maryland State
Department of Education requirements for
certification as a library media specialist and
is also recognized by the Pennsylvania State
Department of Education. A required practicum places students in a school library where
they can apply their coursework in a real-world
setting.
Prospective students can also apply for The
Carolyn D. McGolerick Scholarship in partnership with The Community Foundation of
Frederick County. The scholarship is named for
a 1971 McDaniel (formerly Western Maryland)
College alumna, Carolyn D. McGolerick, who
served as a librarian at Fort Detrick and at St.
John’s School in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
“If you love to teach all ages and abilities of
children, read every day, learn new things about
technology, and work hard, then school librarianship is for you!” says Kerby.