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HONOLULU—Feb. 28, 2007— Chaminade University of Honolulu associate professor in education Dr. Nanette (Sheri) Schonleber recently won the national 2007 award for best doctoral dissertation from the American Montessori Society (AMS). The AMS will recognize Dr. Schonleber at its 2007 Centennial Conference on March 4 in New York City. Along with a $1,000 prize, Schonleber has an invitation to speak at next year's AMS Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. The American Montessori Society is the largest Montessori organization in the world with more than 10,000 members.
The title of Schonleber's dissertation is, "Culturally Congruent Education and the Montessori Model: Perspectives from Hawaiian Culture-Based Educators." The purpose of her research was to discover why so many Native Hawaiian educators felt that the Montessori model was a good fit for their goals and values as educators, and how the approach was being used by Montessori trained Hawaiian culture-based and language immersion teachers. As a result of her successful dissertation, Schonleber earned a Ph.D. in educational psychology from University of Hawaii-Manoa.
This is the second consecutive award from AMS to a former Chaminade graduate. Last year Dr. Joan Gomes, also a Chaminade graduate from the Montessori program, won the national award.
