Dr. Roberta Schomburg has been named a Fellow of the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at Saint Vincent College, according to an announcement by Bill Isler, executive director of the Fred Rogers Center.

In her role as Rogers Center Fellow, Dr. Schomburg will be the external expert for the Center’s project in Early Learning Leadership and Professional Development. She will conduct a review of research and practice in the field, and she will coordinate a national invitational symposium to be sponsored by the Rogers Center in Pittsburgh in June. She will write synthesis pieces on both her project and the symposium, for publication and dissemination by the Rogers Center. Dr. Schomburg’s work with the Center began on November 1, 2006 and will continue through September 30, 2007.

“One of the things we are trying to do is to look at some of the areas of early childhood development where we need to focus our leadership efforts and begin to identify resources and strategies to move forward the work of child development, children’s media and the use of technology in professional development,” Dr. Schomburg said.

Dr. Schomburg worked closely with Fred Rogers particularly with Mister Rogers’ Plan & Play Book. She helped to develop over 700 children’s activities to accompany the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood program. “One of the things that I learned from my interactions with Fred Rogers was the emphasis on intentionality and being very careful about the programs we design for children and the interaction we have with a child,” Dr. Schomburg noted.

Dr. Schomburg is Professor of Education at Carlow University in Pittsburgh, where her titles also include Director of the School of Education, Associate Dean of the College of Professional Studies, and Program Director of Graduate Studies in Early Childhood Education. She is also a Steering Cabinet Member of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Math Science Partnership. Saint Vincent College is also in the partnership.

Dr. Schomburg has presented, published and consulted widely on topics and issues in early childhood development. As a Child Development Consultant for Family Communications Inc. she worked closely with Fred Rogers and Mr. Isler beginning in 1982. In her continuing work with Family Communications, Dr. Schomburg has developed materials for early childhood professional workshops on the following topics: What Do You Do with the Mad That You Feel?; Challenging Behavior: Where to Begin; and Learning Discipline: Supporting Children through Relationships. According to Mr. Isler, “Roberta brings a special understanding of Fred Rogers’ work, and its grounding in child development, to her project as Rogers Center Fellow.”

She earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education and Spanish from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota and holds K-8 certification in Pennsylvania. She completed California Teacher Certification Requirements at Sonoma State College and the University of California at Berkeley. She earned her master’s degree in education from Salem State College in Salem, Massachusetts and also received her teacher certification for grades K-3 in the states of Massachusetts and Georgia. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh in Administrative and Policy Studies with a specialization in Higher Education and a concentration in Child Development, currently the Applied Developmental Psychology program.

Dr. Schomburg is a past president of the Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children and a past secretary and board member of the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators. She is on the advisory committee for the newly-created Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning. Locally, she is a board member of the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and serves as chair of the education committee. Dr. Schomburg chairs the Child and Youth Studies advisory committee for the Community College of Allegheny County and also serves on the CCAC Education Advisory Committee. She has been a member of the Pennsylvania State Board of Private Academic Schools since 1997 and currently serves as vice-chair of the board.

She has served on the Teacher Education Review Panel of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (1994-1997), was an accreditation validator for the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs (1988-1998), and participated in the Army Family Child Care Accreditation Project (1995-1996). She was a co-founder of the Committee to Improve Child Care in Pennsylvania (1989-1995) and served as a consultant and faculty member for the Governor’s Institute on Early Childhood Education (1998-2000). In 2005, she received the Ruth Bailey Peace Award from Peace Links for her work on the project, Beginning with the Children: From Beijing to Pittsburgh.

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