Presidential Honoree: Fred Mangrubang
This article describes the teaching achievements of Fred R. Mangrubang '79, '82. This and other articles may be found in the University Archives.
Citation for this article is: "Presidential Honoree," ECU Report, Winter 1991, Volume 22, No. 2.
Fred R. Mangrubang '79, '82, is the first deaf teacher selected to receive a prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching for outstanding high school teachers of science and mathematics.
Established in 1983, the Presidential Awards seek to identify and reward excellence in science and mathematics education. Recipients are honored with a one week expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for an awards ceremony and presidential citation. They attend honors workshops with other recipients to share ideas about teaching.And they receive a $7500 National Science Foundation grant for their school, to be spent under the awardee's direction over a two-year period to improve school mathematics or science programs.
Mangrubang plans to use the grant money to purchase science lab equipment and develop a handbook specifically dealing with teaching science to deaf students.
Mangrubang, who graduated from ECU with a BS degree in science education and a master's degree in educational administration and supervision, teaches science to middle school students at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (KDES) for the deaf, on the campus of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.He has been at KDES for seven years and prior to that, taught biology, chemistry, earth and physical science at the School for the Deaf in Wilson.
His experience and oustanding repurtation made him an excellent candidate for the strict standards for award nominees. To qualify, a teacher must have at least five years teaching experience in science and mathematics.
He must have attained a reputation among his peers for reaching his students and improving their competence levels in science and mathematics while encouraging the attainment of excellence.
He must maintain goals that extend beyond preparing students for the next course and next academic year. He also must show continued growth and community involvement related to his discipline and to education.
A national selection committee comprised of a prestigious panel of scientists, mathematicians and teachers recommends award recipients to the National Science Foundation which administers the award program for the White House.On a state (or jurisdiction) level, they choose six teachers -- three in science and three in math.
These winners receive citations of merit and become official state candidates for the national competition. Committee members select from these candidtates two winners from each state or jurisdiction -- one for science, one for math.
The selection committee notified Mangrubang in June that he was selected as D.C.'s best secondary level science teacher. Then in September, a letter from the White House informed him that he was one of 108 national presidential award recipients. "I was shocked, surprised and happy, too," Mangrubang said, "because the competition was so intense."
Mangrubang was nominated by KDES students and fellow members of the National Science Teachers Association. Both colleagues and students sent glowing letters of recommendation.
Jo Ann Mackinson, KDES coordinator of parent infant education, called Mangrubang among the "best on our faculty," who "freely gives of his time and energy to consult with faculty and students...who need assistance."
He is "a candidate of distinction," she added.She also praised his activities in pioneering a schoolwide recycling project, establishing an Earth Day 1990 committee and coordinating the annual science fair from pre-school through ninth grade.
Rubye Hughes, Mangrubang's former supervisor, spoke of him as "tireless, gifted and talented."Hughes lauded Mangrubang's talent in "motivating students to understand and enjoy science...developing their abilities to form hypotheses, investigate and draw conclusions" and for getting students to "open their eyes to see and apply science in their everyday lives."
A former KDES student government president, 16-year-old Raychelle Harris was thankful for Mangrubang's dedication to his students and to the science discipline."My only disappointment was that I had him for only one year," Harris said.
