Shoenberg Fellowship
Supporting Our Part-Time Faculty Through the Shoenberg Fellowship
The Institute for Part-Time Faculty Engagement and Support is proud to offer the Shoenberg Fellowship to qualified part-time faculty at Montgomery College who are interested in pursuing full-time faculty positions in higher education. Dr. Robert Shoenberg has served as a member of the Board of Trustees and Foundation board, helping to transform Montgomery College into an institution that continues to attract great faculty and talented students. Through Dr. Shoenberg’s generous support, this fellowship is intended to support a fully paid, one-semester sabbatical for up to 3 part-time faculty members.
2026 Shoenberg Fellowship group from left to right: Professor Erik Swanson (Director), Professor Jamya Robinson, Professor Nicole Porcaro, Dr. Shoenberg, and Professor Jose Vega.
Interested in applying for the 2026 Shoenberg Fellowship?
Montgomery College part-time faculty applicants will be asked to submit a plan to complete a research-based project within the term of the sabbatical. Fellows will be provided with mentoring and professional development support.
Requirements
- Prospective Fellows must apply through an online fellowship proposal process
- Preferred applicants will have a doctorate or other terminal degree in their field
- Four semesters of teaching are preferred
- Part-time faculty would be eligible to receive the Shoenberg Fellowship award only one time during their employment at Montgomery College
Apply for the Shoenberg Fellowship new window
Submit a Shoenberg Fellowship Application.
Due date is Sunday, October 19, 2025.
2025 Fellowship
2025 Fellow: Denise Hill
Denise Hill’s Shoenberg Fellowship project examines the impact of integrating communication coaching strategies—specifically positive self-talk—into advanced ESL instruction and if it improves adult learners’ academic performance and confidence compared to traditional ESL courses. Drawing on 35 years in communication studies and three decades in adult education leadership, Hill studied ESL students enrolled in ESL classes with Montgomery County nonprofit, Classroom2Community. An experimental “Success Class” integrates coaching techniques such as reframing mistakes, using growth-based language (“not yet”), identity-affirming statements, and structured reflection with American culture and English language instruction. Outcomes are measured through CASAS pre- and post-tests and student confidence surveys. Preliminary results show higher academic gains and increased self-confidence among coached students. Findings may inform Montgomery College ESL, first-year seminar, and workforce development curricula, and help strengthen student resilience, persistence, and achievement.
2025 Fellow: Fernaundra Ferguson
Dr. Fernaundra Ferguson’s Shoenberg Fellowship project examines the history and evolving significance of African American safe spaces and safe havens, and their connection to identity and belonging. Grounded in cultural affirmation—symbolized by Curtis Mayfield’s “The Makings of You”—the study traces protective spaces from the Underground Railroad and Black churches to HBCUs, fraternities, the NAACP, and sites such as The Magnolia House. It also explores LGBTQ+ safe spaces, including Washington, D.C.’s Club House and contemporary initiatives like Queer Destinations. Through historical research and critical analysis, Dr. Ferguson examined how safe spaces foster resilience, civil rights, and human rights.
2025 Fellow: Alzira Lena Ruano
Installation view of a mural-sized contact sheet from Chuck Stewart's November 1970 photoshoot of Alice Coltrane for Journey in Satchidananda, shot at his New York studio. On view at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, as part of the exhibition Alice Coltrane: Monument Eternal, February 9 – May 4, 2025
Photo credit: Alzira Lena RuanoThe work of Alzira Lena Ruano, whether in art, research, or education, is centered on the importance of visibility, inclusion, and reflexivity. Representation: In Front and Behind the Camera was an experiential research project that initially focused on looking at photographs made by BIPOC artists and photographers picturing portraits of BIPOC sitters. As Ruano began researching, the scope of solely focusing on the portraiture genre expanded to include other genres where people were not depicted, such as landscape and still life photography.
A core element of this research project was seeing the photographic prints in person — in some cases, holding the print with gloved hands, of course! Seeing photographs of people of color that are infused with the perspectives of diverse artists and photographers has an immense impact.
The photographs researched were either on display in exhibitions, in special collections, or in archival collections. Ruano attended several panel discussions, curatorial and artist talks. During the Shoenberg Fellowship, Ruano visited the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, National Gallery of Art, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Nevada Museum of Art, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Special Collections Reading Room. Each visit offers new insight into how BIPOC photographers construct meaning, agency, and identity through their work, reinforcing the importance of engaging with original prints rather than digital reproductions. Moving through these institutions, Ruano found that the act of encountering these works in person — in galleries, reading rooms, and archives — confirmed that proximity to original photographs carries an emotional and intellectual weight that no digital surrogate can replicate. Although the fellowship has ended, Ruano continues the research project and has noticed a shift in how works in exhibitions are presented, particularly in federally funded museums.
Past Fellowship
2024 Fellow: Wyckham Avery
Nonbinary Representation in Media Wyckham Avery is a adjunct professor teaching Film courses for the Visual and Performing Arts Department. They also are a WRLC-GT tutor, a PACEI member, a MCRPA member, and a MC Pride and Allies member. Their Shoenberg Fellowship sabbatical research explores nonbinary representation in media through a multi-faceted approach, including surveys, interviews, and case studies. It examines the authenticity, development, and audience reception of gender-fluid characters while identifying best practices for positive representation. The project integrates auto-ethnographic methods along with an online resource hub. Its goals are to contribute to cultural understanding, advocate for inclusive storytelling, and provide actionable guidelines for content creators to improve representation of non-binary individuals in media.
2024 Fellow: Susanna Sunn
Fostering Algebraic Thinking for First Graders Susanna Ya Xu Sunn is faculty of Mathematics, Statistics, and Data Sciences. The transition from arithmetic to algebra represents a critical milestone in a student’s mathematical development, contributing substantially to their long-term career opportunities. However, this transition has remained a persistent global challenge. Dedicated to mathematics education, Professor Susanna Sunn examined successful pedagogical approaches worldwide during her Shoenberg sabbatical. Her findings highlighted the importance of fostering algebraic thinking from earliest stages of elementary education, beginning in first grade. At the Maryland Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ Conference in May 2024, she presented six key strategies for cultivating this mindset. She further designed resources for immediate classroom and home use, helping learners navigate this crucial transition with confidence.
2024 Fellow: Erika Bucciantini
Rome on the Potomac: The Legacy of Imperial Architecture Erika Bucciantini, M.A., is a professor of Latin language and literature, English, and Humanities with an interest in the impact of neoclassical architecture and monuments in the American landscape. Her Shoenberg Fellowship sabbatical creates advanced analytical assignments for the Latin 102 curriculum and a StoryMap project, “Rome on the Potomac: The Legacy of Imperial Architecture,” in collaboration with MC’s Applied Geography Program.
Dr. Serena Gould Personal Narrative and Pedagogical Practice
Serena Gould Ph.D. is a storyteller whose research is focused on using personal narratives as a theoretical lens to examine traumatic affect and identity formation arising from racial and intracultural histories in immigrants and survivors.
Her Shoenberg Fellowship sabbatical resulted in an interactive autoethnographic case study between two previously oppositional participants, German and Jewish; the publication of Yitzchak von Schweitzer’s memoir; and her presentation and accompanying documentary film at the 2023 International Digital Storytelling Conference.
Bridging the Gap new window, documentary film of Yitzchak von Schweitzer
Sarah Kate Jorgensen Artistic Syncratism Along El Camino Real De Tierra Adentro
Sarah Kate Jorgensen, M.A., has a degree in Art History and Museum Studies, and has also done work towards a Ph.D. in Anthropology of Art (incomplete). She is a professor of Art History and a painter.
Her Shoenberg Fellowship sabbatical sought to demonstrate that culture is not lost,
but rather it is transformed along migration routes, such as the El Camino Real de
Tierra Adentro, and is reflected in contemporary
art and craft today.
Tara Tetrault Early African American Community of Sugarland: Archaeology & Educati
Tara Lilian Tetrault, M.A., M.A.A., has a degree in Anthropology/Archaeology, and she and Suzanne Johnson and the Sugarland Ethnohistory Project, won the 2021 Montgomery County award for historic reservation. As an adjunct professor, she has 20 years of academic teaching experience. She integrates museum studies and material culture into Anthropology and Women’s Studies courses.
Her Shoenberg Fellowship sabbatical focused on an excavation of one of the earliest
African American farms in
Sugarland, MD, dating to 1874.