University of Maryland College Park has chosen Dr. Peter Rennert-Ariev as the recipient of the 2009/2010 award for "Outstanding New Scholar". This award is sponsored by the University of MD College of Education, its Alumni Chapter, and Phi Delta Kappa. He will receive the award at an event on November 18th at the University of Maryland.

Peter Rennert-Ariev is an associate professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Chair of the Education Specialties Department at Loyola University Maryland where he has been employed since earning a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Maryland in 2002. His scholarship addresses characteristics of teacher education programs, the role of “performance-based” assessment in teacher development, and the use of teaching portfolios to promote professional development for higher education faculty.  His work has highlighted the role of assessment in student learning, the political context of teacher education reform, and the complex challenges underlying institutional change. Dr. Rennert-Ariev’s research has appeared in publications such as Teachers College Record, The Journal of Teacher Education, Teacher Education and Practice, and The Journal of Curriculum Studies, and he has presented his work at various educational conferences including the American Educational Research Association, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, the National Media Education Conference, and the International Conference on College Teaching and Learning. Dr. Rennert-Ariev has been involved in mentoring college faculty in developing teaching portfolios and his analysis of the role of teaching portfolios in higher education will appear in the 2010 book The Teaching Portfolio, published by Jossey-Bass.