Walden University awards the competitive National Public Service Scholarship to students working at the national level who seek the doctorate in order to better serve the nation’s needs. This fall, the university named a new recipient who joins six summer recipients.

Recipient: Jennifer A. Sears

Program: Ph.D. in Education (Self-Designed, Literacy)

Title: District Facilitator (Literacy), Bavaria District, Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA), English/Language Arts Specialist/English as a Second Language (ESL) Specialist and Read 180 Teacher (Grades 4–6), Hohenfels Elementary School, Hohenfels, Germany.

How a Ph.D. Will Further My Public Service Work: “I am a Chickasaw Indian and a civilian employee of the Department of Defense Education Activity. The mission of the DODEA is to provide literacy skills to children and to produce lifelong learners, which spurred my aspiration to enter the doctoral program at Walden University.

“My long-range professional and scholarly goals are firmly planted within the educational realm of federal public service, in the areas of literacy and language. With my doctorate, I intend to expand my own research of new strategies, methods, programs, activities, and materials to promote student achievement and success, while combating societal illiteracy and apathy toward reading.

“My future career goals include continuation with the U.S. government in the area of program development and training for ESL or literacy-related areas, or as a coordinator for literacy and special populations. Also, as a member of the Chickasaw Nation, I intend to collaborate with my own tribe, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and that of the Five Civilized Tribes—Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole and Creek—to seek the improvement of literacy rates and skills.”

December Ponder front page