Education and Social Sciences | Montgomery College, Maryland

Sonia Pruneda-Hernandez, Acting Collegewide Dean of Education and Social Sciences

Welcome to the Education and Social Sciences Area. Our award-winning faculty members teach courses in education, anthropology, criminal justice, psychology, and sociology. For the convenience of students, we offer day, evening, and Saturday classes in classrooms and online. Consistent with the Montgomery College mission, we strive to empower our students to change their lives, and we enrich the life of our community.

Our Education and Social Sciences Area includes the Department of Education and Social Sciences at Germantown; the Department of Education and Psychology at Rockville; the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice at Rockville, the cohort of Education and Social Sciences at Takoma Park / Silver Spring; and the School of Education.

The School of Education offers programs for those with a variety of career goals: early childhood worker training and professional development, including an associate of applied science degree accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children; associate of arts in teaching programs that serve as transfer pathways to teacher education programs at any college or university in Maryland; and opportunities for career changers to become teachers through coursework or via our Montgomery County Public Schools ACET (Alternative Certification for Effective Teachers) partnership program.

More About Dean Pruneda-Hernandez

Dr. Pruneda-Hernandez began her career at Montgomery College in 2005 as an adjunct professor, becoming a full-time faculty member in 2008. In 2017, she was appointed as the coordinator of the early childhood program, becoming the collegewide senior director for early childhood education programs in 2020.

Through her work in early childhood education, she increased enrollment through extensive outreach, wrote successful grants (which raised $2 million) supporting students at no cost to them, and developed the fully online applied science degree, reducing the time to a degree significantly for students. She collaborated and supported WDCE with developing courses and curriculum review to add grant and other programmatic needs, ensuring quality and facilitating the integration of credit and noncredit content and flow. Dr. Pruneda-Hernandez has developed strong relationships with the community and provides leadership coordinating the regional early childhood education professional continuing education and community engagements events, including the Regional Early Childhood Education Summit, Statewide Early Childhood Education Symposium, and countywide early childhood education events.

Dr. Pruneda-Hernandez has served on numerous collegewide committees, including co-chairing one of the standards for Middle States accreditation and participating in the 2022 cohort of the American Association for Women in Community Colleges LEADERS Institute. Dr. Pruneda-Hernandez was awarded the MC Faculty Outstanding Service Award in 2015 and the NISOD of Excellence Award in 2016. Dr. Pruneda-Hernandez was also the recipient of the American Association of Community College Dale P. Parnell Distinguished Faculty designation for 2018 and was awarded the Association of Community College Trustee (ACCT) 2019 Northeast Region Faculty Member Award.

Dr. Pruneda-Hernandez earned a doctorate of education from Walden University, a master of science in education from Nova Southeastern University, and a bachelor of arts in Spanish from the University of North Florida.