VT College of Science Quarterly August 2014 Vol. 2 No. 1 | Page 17

Mathematics partners
with education for
$800K NSF grant
Recognizing the growing demand for
teachers in the fields of science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the
National Science Foundation has awarded an
$800,000 Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship
grant to a faculty team at Virginia Tech.
The grant was made to Assistant Professor
Catherine L. Ulrich, principal investigator for
the project “Virginia Teach Phase II: A Community-based Approach to Serving Mathematics
Students in Need,” and two colleagues in the
university’s School of Education/Teaching and
Learning: Professor Jesse L. Wilkins and Clinical Associate Professor Bettibel C. Kreye.
Also collaborating on the project are Associate Professor Anderson Norton III, Assistant
Professor Megan Wawro, and Senior Instructor
Susan Hagen in the Department of Mathematics in the College of Science.
The Noyce scholarship program encourages
STEM majors and professionals to become
K-12 mathematics and science teachers. In
return for support from Virginia Teach, which
awards one- to three-year scholarships, recipients make a commitment to teach in highneeds school districts.
Virginia Teach is currently a partnership
between the university’s School of Education,
Department of Mathematics, Montgomery
County Public Schools, Roanoke City Public
Schools, New River Community College,
Southwest Virginia Community College, and
Virginia Western Community College. Its mission is to increase the number and quality of
new secondary-school mathematics teachers.
Phase II of the project builds on a previous
program that supported 30 scholars. It will
provide scholarships to another 25 Virginia
Tech students whose goal is to teach secondary mathematics in high-need school districts
across the commonwealth.
The project is one of 20 selected nationally
for funding from a total of 103 proposals.
“Phase Two gives us the opportunity to build

by

Jean Elliott

College of Liberal Arts & Human
Sciences

Pinkard praised the program for building “a
partnerships with local community colleges
network of aspiring teachers and experienced
and an additional school district,” Ulrich said.
educators willing to share their ideas and
“We look forward to working with our partexperiences.” It also gives scholars the means
ners to serve schools in rural and urban parts
of the state. Together, we can explore the most to meet colleagues from across the commonwealth at the annual Virginia Council of Teacheffective way to support the long-term transiers of Mathematics conference, a two-day
tion from student to master teacher.”
Norton, the principal investigator for phase 1 professional development event, Pinkard said.
The current Noyce Scholars at Virginia Tech
of the Noyce grant, said the program’s success
was recently affirmed by an assistant principal are graduate students Julie Aurora of Blacksburg, Va.; Sarah DeVito of Centreville, Va.; Ben
in Prince William County.
Petersen of Falls Church, Va.; Shawn Savage
“The reason I am emailing is to let you
of Bear, Del.;Brett Sherfy of Sterling, Va.; Katie
know what a great job your program is doing
preparing teachers who are ready to enter our Shonk of Virginia Beach, Va.; and Andrea Suddeth of Fries, Va.
profession,” wrote Ryan Ferrera of Woodbridge Senior High
School. “I’m getting to
a point where, if I see
that they are coming
out of your program, I
already know they are
well prepared for the
profession.”
Norton said the success of Noyce scholars
is due in part to the fact
that the program takes
five years to complete.
With that extra year,
he said, they get three
semesters of field experience and interaction
with students, so they
leave Virginia Tech already knowing what to
expect in their teaching
positions.
Virginia Tech alumna
Jordan Pinkard, a
former Noyce scholar,
teaches geometry and
statistics at William
Noyce scholarships will support graduate students in the School of Education who
Fleming High School in will teach math in high-needs schools. Clockwise from top left: Brett Sherfy, Ben
Petersen, Assistant Professor Catherine L. Ulrich, Katie Shonk, Sarah DeVito, and
Roanoke.
Andrea Suddeth.

FEBRUARY 2014

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