Montgomery County Educational Media Staff Association
Nancy C. Walker Award
In 1985, MCEMSA established the Nancy C. Walker Award. Ms. Walker was the Director of MCPS Library Media Programs during the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Ms. Walker brought our Library Media Program to national prominence during her tenure.
Montgomery County Educational Media Staff Association (MCEMSA) has a long-standing tradition of honoring an administrator/administrative team that has demonstrated exemplary support for the library media program at their school.
MCEMSA is seeking nominations for the Nancy C. Walker Award for 2025-2026 school year. The application link is below. Please note that to submit a nomination you and your administrator must have worked together at your school for at least two consecutive years, moving on to your third year as of January 2026. Any questions about the application can be directed to Daria Taylor. Please share your nomination with Daria at daria_c_taylor@mcpsmd.org by Wednesday, January 21, 2026.
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2023-2024 Walker Award Recipient
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DuFief Elementary School Principal Gregg Baron has won the Nancy C. Walker Award for Outstanding Support to a Library Media Program for the 2023–2024 school year. Baron was nominated by school media specialist Tara Eliason. This award is presented annually by the Montgomery County Educational Media Specialists Association (MCEMSA) to highlight the role of administrative leaders in supporting library media centers.
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Baron has been a strong advocate of the media program since arriving at DuFief. Because he ensures that Eliason can attend weekly planning meetings, she works with all grade-level teams and creates media lessons and projects that support curriculum content, expand technology use and extend learning in the classroom. Baron champions collaborative planning and co-teaching, which increases student understanding in content areas and helps students develop new skills. By promoting the media program, insisting on co-teaching and planning and understanding the media standards, Baron brings all stakeholders on board.
The pair discuss all aspects of the media program, including scheduling, personnel, finance and technology. He routinely advocates for much-needed improvements in the media center.
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Baron champions the media program in many ways. During pre-service week, the pair showed staff the value and importance of co-teaching and planning between the media specialist and grade-level teams. When there were parental concerns after DuFief rolled out LGBTQ+ books, Baron convened the classroom teacher and Eliason to present the materials to those parents and made sure Eliason was not placed in an untenable situation.
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Baron “is always happy to back me up and support me whenever needed,” Eliason said.
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Source: MCPS Bulletin
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/news/bulletin/2024-05/may-1-2024/dufief-principal-wins-nancy-walker-library-media-award/​​​​​​​​
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