Montgomery College Pilots One-of-a Kind Faculty Fellowship Program with Library of Congress

The Paul Peck Humanities Institute and Montgomery College Libraries are pleased to announce the selection of the first ever class of Montgomery College fellows at the Library of Congress. The pilot program will bring faculty, college librarians and students to the world’s largest library.

Working with the Library Services Division, the five fellows will receive intensive training in how to access digital and physical archives at the Library and will conduct their own research. Students in the fellows’ classes will have the unique opportunity to complete assignments using artifacts and archives at the Library.

Jarvis Slacks, professor of English and coordinator for the program, said “This brings everyone out of lecture mode. A student does not have to be in the classroom to learn.”

Montgomery College’s proximity to the Library of Congress makes it ideal for a place-based learning experience. In place-based learning, students connect with their own communities, often in new ways.  “While the Library is nearby, students may not have ever had the chance to access it,” Slacks said.

An interdisciplinary program, the first class includes Dr. Linda Grinnell, professor of women’s and gender studies; Dr. Gail Minor-Smith, professor of dance; Dr. John Wang, professor of English; and Vickie Drake and Niyati Pandya, librarians.

The program is modeled after Montgomery College’s highly successful Smithsonian Faculty Fellowship Program, which began in1998.

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Montgomery College is a public, open admissions community college with campuses in Germantown, Rockville, and Takoma Park/Silver Spring, plus workforce development/continuing education centers and off-site programs throughout Montgomery County, Md. The College serves nearly 60,000 students a year, through both credit and noncredit programs, in more than 130 areas of study.

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