Faculty Awarded for Teaching Excellence

Marilyn DelDonno, chair of CSW's Science Department, has been awarded the 2006 Amgen Award for Science Teaching Excellence. The award - given annually by Amgen, the world's largest biotechnology company - honors extraordinary science teachers who significantly impact their students through exemplary science teaching, and who achieve demonstrated results in science learning.

"Marilyn DelDonno is a spectacular science teacher who uses her impeccable science credentials to galvanize her students into learning science," said CSW Head of School Jane Moulding who nominated DelDonno for the award. "She does this through her warmth in the classroom, her fearlessness in the lab, and her passion for teaching students how to do hands-on scientific research out in the field."

DelDonno, who has been teaching science at the Cambridge School of Weston for twenty years, will receive a $5000 unrestricted cash award from Amgen. In addition, Amgen is awarding a $5000 restricted grant to CSW for the expansion or enhancement of a school science program, science resources, or the professional development of the school's science teachers. DelDonno won the award based on her creativity of teaching method, effectiveness in the classroom, motivational ability, instructional ability, and her plan for the use of grant money to improve science education resources in her school.

Del Donno, who graduated magna cum laude from Brown University in 1972, and holds an A.B.D. in Biological Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island, has developed and launched several science courses and programs at CSW. These include the school's fifteen-year-long marine biology research course conducted every year at Racing Beach on Cape Cod, the data of which is informing local town officials about erosion conditions. In 2003, DelDonno spearheaded CSW's current Renewable Energy Curriculum with support from a grant by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. DelDonno was invited to present the curriculum at the Massachusetts Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) conference in October 2004.

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