The University of South Carolina has been selected to join the 2016 partnership class of the 100Kin10 initiative, organized by the White House to develop 100,000 new science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) teachers by 2021. In the state of South Carolina, UofSC is the first higher education institution to partner with 100Kin10 to meet the national STEM teacher recruitment goal, and was selected along with Harvard Graduate School of Education, Penn State, Purdue, Texas A&M, University of Illinois, Missouri, and Virginia among others.
UofSC’s participation is a collaborative effort between the College of Education, College of Arts & Sciences, College of Engineering & Computing, and SC Honors College, with a goal to produce 265 new middle and high school mathematics and science teachers by 2021. “STEM is at the core of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century. To solve them, we need to activate all the brainpower and diverse experiences of our nation’s most precious natural resource: its people. Without excellent STEM teachers inspiring all of our nation’s youth, this challenge will continue to allude us,” said 100Kin10 co-founder and Executive Director Talia Milgrom-Elcott.
Dr. Edwin Dickey, professor, College of Education, will lead the direction UofSC has promised for a successful STEM program and its bearing on the 100Kin10 initiative. Dr. Dickey says “I am excited to assist my institutional partners at UofSC to gain the benefits I have already experienced from my collaborations with 100Kin10 network partners within the area of STEM teacher recruitment, quality enhancement, and movement building and to also expand our work toward retaining excellent and even better STEM teachers.”
UofSC’s College of Education will implement the 100kin10 initiative through all academic levels from undergraduate to graduate including: Middle Level Education B.A.; Middle Level Education B.S.; Master of Arts in Teaching, Mathematics (M.A.T); Master of Arts in Teaching, Sciences (M.A.T); Masters of Education in Teaching (M.Ed); and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Teaching & Learning. Degree programs are offered in traditional, hybrid, and on-line formats.
College of Education’s Dean Lemuel Watson and Dr. Edwin Dickey, along with Dean Hossein Haj-Hariri of the College of Engineering & Computing, can be heard on SC Public Radio Speaking of Schools discussing Uof SC’s commitment to the partnership with 100Kin10 and the STEM program. Milgrom-Elcott continues, “100Kin10 partners are bringing their individual passion, strengths, ideas, and resources to create solutions and together forge a path forward to reach the goal of 100,000 excellent STEM teachers.” 100Kin10 is proud to have UofSC as a partner.