Walden University’s cyberspace chapter of Phi Delta Kappa, the society for professional educators, awarded its second set of Simon-Poppenhagen scholarships to Ed.D. student Filippa S. Viola and Ph.D. student Pius Charles William Murray.

The scholarships, one for $500 and the other for $1,000, honor a former Walden education dean, Dr. Brent Poppenhagen, and a current education faculty member, Dr. Marilyn K. Simon, both founding members of the chapter.

Recipients Making a Difference

Filippa S. Viola

Filippa S. Viola, who was awarded the Poppenhagen Scholarship, lives in Bedford, N.H., and works at Southern New Hampshire University as an adjunct professor teaching Spanish and Italian.

Viola is seeking her Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Administrator Leadership for Teaching and Learning with two hopes: first, to become involved in curriculum development in a school district to improve foreign language programs and, second, to improve the teaching of foreign languages in America by spearheading a committee at the State Department level and working with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages to involve the secretary of education in Washington, D.C.

Her doctoral study will be titled Lack of Oral Proficiency Standards for Initial Foreign Language Teaching Licenses in the United States: Are Today’s Student Teachers Prepared in the Target Language? She will look at the validity of initial certification tests being given at the state level and determine whether the passing rates are such that only those who are truly prepared to teach the language will pass.

Pius Charles William Murray

Murray is earning his Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration, specializing in International Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs), with the goal of finding “a position in which I could teach and at the same time serve [in] a senior management–level position, either at the United Nations, an international [religious nongovernmental organization], or even the United States government in the State Department.”

His dissertation will serve as “a study of the role and influence of religious nongovernmental organizations [RNGOs] in building global civil society [and h]ow to identify criteria that may indicate whether an RNGO is a terrorist organization or fosters building global civil society and sustainable human development.”

About Phi Delta Kappa
Walden’s cyber chapter of PDK—the only one in existence—is eight years old and boasts its own peer-reviewed online journal, The Journal of Educational Practice for Social Change.

Phi Delta Kappa is a well-respected professional association for educators and student educators. It advocates for public schools and publishes the Phi Delta Kappan, the most cited educational journal in the United States. PDK has 650 chapters in the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe and Asia.

November Ponder front page

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