NSF Awards Kent State $1.08 Million Grant to Address Shortage of STEM Educators

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Kent State University a $1.08 million grant to support the university’s Noyce Scholars Program, designed to increase the number of highly qualified middle and high school teachers in biology, chemistry, earth and space science, mathematics and physics.

The five-year grant runs through September 2016 and will provide scholarships for 50 recently graduated STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) majors and returning STEM professionals to become certified via the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) initial teacher licensure program.

Kent State professors Lisa Donnelly, Joanne Caniglia, Jim Gleeson, John Stalvey and Andrew Tonge worked together to secure the grant.

“This NSF grant will enable Kent State to contribute to the growth of STEM educators in middle and high schools where there is great need,” said Donnelly, principal investigator for Kent State’s Noyce Scholars Program. “The novel aspect of our program is the inclusion of service learning opportunities that will recruit potential Master of Arts in Teaching students as freshmen and sophomores to help address the severe shortage of STEM teachers.”

The Kent State Noyce Program is made possible by a long-standing partnership between Kent State’s science, mathematics and education departments, the university’s Upward Bound program, which helps recruit freshmen and sophomores to the teaching profession, and high-need schools in the area.

“This grant represents an excellent example of a strong collaboration between our college and the College of Arts and Sciences to help address the continuing shortage of STEM teachers in K-12 schools,” said Daniel Mahony, dean of the College of Education, Health and Human Services at Kent State. “It will assist us in attracting highly qualified students in the STEM disciplines and provide them with the educational experience needed to be successful in the classroom.”

For more information about the Noyce Scholars Program at Kent State, contact Donnelly at ldonnell@kent.edu.

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Media Contacts:
Lisa Donnelly, ldonnell@kent.edu, 330-672-0614
Emily Vincent, evincen2@kent.edu, 330-672-8595