The University of Portland will play a key role in giving K-12 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) teachers more support and professional development through a multi-institution, $4.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The three-year grant will fund projects in 14 Western states, primarily aimed at filling equity gaps and a STEM teacher shortage exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the myriad of projects focused on education and persistence in the STEM teaching profession, UP will direct a $533,000 sub-award toward a Portland-based conference for pre-service and in-service K-12 STEM teachers in high-need schools. Planned for February 2024, the Western Regional Noyce Network (WRNN) conference will emphasize professional networking and best practices for aspiring and practicing K-12 STEM teachers who are supported by Noyce programs.
Stephanie Salomone, Associate Dean for Faculty in the UP’s Donald P. Shiley School of Engineering, is a co-principal investigator of the NSF grant, a 13-university partnership led by the University of Oregon.
Salomone touted the grant’s multi-faceted efforts to build and sustain a network for teachers to feel valued and connected to a community – and their classrooms.
“We are supporting teachers who are providing our most vulnerable children access to positive and relevant STEM experiences, so they might see themselves as scientists,” Salomone says. “Now, more than ever, our educators need to know how important they are to the formation of a diverse group of future STEM leaders.”
“At the University of Portland, we are people with hope to bring, and this work helps us live out that part of our mission.”
In addition to facilitating the 2024 WRNN conference, NSF grant funds will be dedicated to a second faculty cohort of an Inclusive Teaching Working Group on the UP campus.