Grant will help MTSU recruit teachers and boost U.S. competitiveness
July 8, 2008, MURFREESBORO – A $478,492 U.S. Department of Education grant will assist Middle Tennessee State University in its efforts to recruit math and science middle school teachers to help keep the nation competitive in today’s global marketplace, U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon announced.
“For the U.S. workforce to be competitive in the future, it’s imperative that we recruit and train math and science teachers now,” Gordon, who chairs the House Science and Technology Committee, said. “These teachers are necessary to grow the highly skilled workforce we must have to help keep good jobs in the U.S.”
The funding stems from an appropriation Gordon and Sen. Lamar Alexander secured in Congress.
“The College of Education was looking for fourth through eighth grade math and science education majors, and we could only find five. We’re working very hard to recruit,” Dr. Dovie Kimmins, associate director of the Tennessee Mathematics, Science & Technology Education Center, College of Basic & Applied Sciences at MTSU, said.
The center will use the grant money to fund $2,000 scholarships for math and science education sophomores and juniors and $500 scholarships for freshmen with the same major. Staff will recruit freshman students through the university’s freshman orientation program, Kimmins said.
“The overall goal is to increase the number and quality of math and science teachers, specifically middle school teachers trained by MTSU. We’re also trying to better the programs of study by working on content,” Kimmins said. “We’re really excited about this program and appreciative of the congressman’s help.”
Gordon wrote the House version of the America COMPETES Act, which was signed into law by President George Bush on Aug. 9, 2007. The legislation puts the United States on a path to double basic scientific research and establishes or expands initiatives to improve the teaching of math and science to K-12 students.
“America COMPETES boosts U.S. research and strengthens education, which are critical to ensuring good jobs are available for Ph.D.s, as well as high school graduates,” Gordon said. “I’m happy MTSU can play an important role in those efforts.”
