Nganga, Janak receive Garland Fellowships

Lydiah Nganga

Ed Janak

  Two University of Wyoming College of Education faculty members are the latest recipients of the Mary Ellbogen Garland Early Career Fellowship.
   Edward Janak, assistant professor of educational studies, is based at UW's Laramie campus. Lydiah Nganga, assistant professor of elementary education, teaches at the UW/Casper College Center.
 The late Wyoming business leader John P. "Jack" Ellbogen established the Mary Ellbogen Garland Early Career Fellowship in 2000 in honor of his daughter's commitment to community service and philanthropy. Income from the fund may be used to support one promising junior faculty members via supplementary salary or start-up funding for the recipients' research and teaching programs.
   The Garland Fellowship will allow Janak to complete the manuscript of a book based on his doctoral dissertation, a biography of former South Carolina school superintendent John Swearingen. Janak will return to Swearingen's home state to continue exploring archived sources to which he lacked time to access while a graduate student.
   Swearingen's story is a fascinating one to Janak, an educational historian. A champion of desegregation and equalized funding, the son of a conservative family served during a time of rampant racism in the South (the turn of the 20th century). Uncovering the political straight shooter's story has been particularly challenging, since many of his official papers have been lost or destroyed. Janak constructed his biography from a variety of sources, including interviews with Swearingen's son and content analysis of annual reports produced during his tenure.
   In addition to allowing Janak to complete his book manuscript, the Garland Fellowship will help him begin gathering oral histories of rural school teachers and explore the potential for a searchable, digital, online archives of their stories. Engaging education students in identifying subjects and recording interviews is a goal.
    Nganga will use funds from the Garland Fellowship to support research on the perceptions of elementary educators toward teaching a global curriculum in social studies lessons.
   Nganga will explore such questions as: Do teachers have a background in global studies? What are their challenges? What support do they need to deal with those challenges? Is there any marginalization of social studies in the curriculum and, if so, what can be done to ensure that it maintains visibility at the elementary level?
   She will gather data using interviews, classroom observations, and survey. Garland Fellowship funds will support travel, supplemental summer salary, provide supplies needed during data collection, and assist with transcription expenses. Nganga will also work on completing manuscripts that are in progress.
 Nganga says findings from this research will lead to information about ways to ensure that graduates of the Wyoming Teacher Education Program have a baseline understanding of global issues and culturally responsive education. It also should lead to recommendations for in-service teachers, to enhance their classroom practice and support their efforts to be culturally responsive teachers.

Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007