Skip Fennell has experience as a classroom teacher, a principal, and a supervisor of instruction. He is currently Professor of Education at McDaniel College and Past President of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. In 2006, he was appointed by President Bush to the National Mathematics Advisory Panel, which was charged with advising the President and Secretary of Education on the best use of scientifically based research to advance the teaching and learning of mathematics.

Widely published in articles and textbooks related to elementary and middle-grade mathematics education, Fennell has also authored chapters in yearbooks and resource books published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. In addition, he has played key leadership roles with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the Research Council for Diagnostic/Prescriptive Mathematics, the Mathematical Sciences Education Board, the National Science Foundation, the Maryland Mathematics Commission, and the Association for Mathematics Teacher Educators. On April 29, 2006 he began serving a 2-year term as president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Fennell has received numerous honors and awards, including Maryland’s Outstanding Mathematics Educator (1990), McDaniel College’s Professor of the Year (1997), and the CASE - Carnegie Foundation Professor of the Year (1997). He has also has been the principal investigator on grants from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, the Maryland Higher Education Commission, and the ExxonMobil Foundation. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania and a master’s from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania before receiving a Ph.D. from The Pennsylvania State University.