St. Stephen’s Episcopal School social studies teacher Dominique Craft is the recipient of fully funded fellowship to the 2009 Summer Institute for Early Career Teachers by the Klingenstein Center for Independent School Leadership, Teachers College, Columbia University.

The East County resident was one of 75 beginning teachers to earn the award. The 2009 Summer Institute cohort includes teachers from all areas of the United States in addition to participants from Turkey, Lebanon and Canada.

Craft and the rest of the institute participants spent two weeks in Lawrenceville, N.J., this month for a variety of workshops, seminars and collaborative exercises guided by prominent education experts, Teachers College professors and master teachers. The program challenges participants to embrace the complexities of the classroom and to explore the art of teaching and the delicate balance of subject mastery, judgment, intuition and creativity.

The Klingenstein Center is dedicated to improving the quality of independent school education by developing and strengthening leadership among teachers and administrators who work in independent schools in the United States and throughout the world.