Graduate Education Student Deconstructs Gender Myth, Wins Scholarship

Nicola Hodges Galligan, who’s earning her Master’s of Education in Teaching, Learning, and Advocacy.

Don’t tell Nicola Hodges Galligan that math and science aren’t for girls. The College of Charleston graduate student has years of teaching experience that says otherwise, having worked in schools in Virginia and Kenya. Beyond that, Galligan conducted her own research into the stereotype, documenting how the myth of male superiority in mathematics and the sciences has been perpetuated, wittingly or unwittingly, by teacher and parents. The result of her research, “Attitudes of Secondary Students Towards Gender and Mathematics,” documents the history of this myth and its discouraging effect on adolescent girls.

In recognition of such research and unique teaching experience, Galligan recently received the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association Educational Foundation Award. The $5,000 scholarship is awarded to graduate students and others pursuing education careers in STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and math).

Both Jon Hale, assistant professor of educational history at the College, and Red Hoover, vice president at ManTech International Corporation, presented the award to Hodges on Monday, August 11, 2015, at the School of Education, Health, and Human Performance building and had kind words for the Master’s of Education in Teaching, Learning, and Advocacy student.

“Nicola Hodges Galligan was selected to receive the AFCEA scholarship because she is simply an outstanding math educator,” said Hale. “She is a very intelligent and dedicated scholar and educator with the genuine interest, passion, and talent in academic and extracurricular pursuits to be an effective and committed educator.”

Read more about the School of Education, Health, and Human Performance’s graduate programs.

The School of Education, Health and Human Performance celebrates a scholarship award to graduate student Nicola Hodges Galligan. From left to right: Dean Frances Welch; Galligan, Red Hoover, vice president of ManTech International Corp.; and Jon Hale, assistant professor of educational history.