State Awards UNC Grant for Student STEM Program
The Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative awarded UNC a $99,688 grant for its Learning through Engaging and Authentic Practices Program, a student support services program that helps UNC STEM students persist and graduate in health careers by providing scholarships for residential summer programs, intensive research and gap funding to cover books, materials and other education-related expenses.
UNC, Mines Project for K-3 STEM Education Awarded $140,000
A UNC partnership with the Colorado School of Mines to increase the quality of STEM instruction in K-3 classrooms received $140,000 from the Early Childhood STEM Learning Challenge. The schools’ partnership reimagines science and math teacher preparation by pairing teacher candidates with seasoned elementary teachers to co-design and deliver engaging STEM lessons to K-3 classrooms.
Recruit, Retain Teachers in Rural School Districts
The Colorado Department of Higher Education awarded UNC a $2.2 million grant that will be used over the next five years to help address teacher shortages in Colorado’s 147 rural school districts, especially in the high-need areas of science, mathematics, special education and cultural/linguistic diversity.
The grant establishes the Center for Rural Education, which will be led by faculty from UNC’s School of Teacher Education and School of Special Education.
The center will:
- Develop or expand teacher cadet academies that encourage rural middle and high school students to consider teaching as a career
- Provide financial incentives for teacher candidates in pre-service teacher preparation programs who commit to student teach or teach in rural Colorado school districts
- Provide mentoring and professional development support for beginning teachers in rural districts
- Supply stipends to rural teachers who commit to obtain concurrent enrollment certification
or national board teaching certification
