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William Paterson University Receives More than $3 Million in Grant Awards for Urban Education, STEM Projects

From left, Djanna Hill, College of Education Dean Candace Burns, and Jyoti Champanerkar

The William Paterson University College of Education recently received three grant awards totaling more than $3 million for projects focused on urban education.

The University has been awarded a five-year, $1,049,996 grant from the National Science Foundation to recruit and train undergraduate science and math majors to teach in high-need school districts.  The University will collaborate on the grant project with Mercer County Community College and the Paterson Public Schools.

The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program seeks to encourage talented undergraduate science and mathematics majors to become K-12 mathematics and science teachers. The program provides funds to institutions of higher education to support scholarships, stipends, and academic programs for undergraduate science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) majors who commit to teaching in high-need K-12 school districts.

“I am proud that the National Science Foundation has chosen William Paterson University for this prestigious grant, which builds on our long-standing partnerships and success in preparing teachers in the STEM disciplines as well as teachers for urban schools,” says Kathleen Waldron, president of William Paterson University.  “We are also delighted to expand our partnership with Mercer County Community College as we collaborate to seek additional STEM majors who wish to become teachers.”

With this grant award, William Paterson intends to recruit at least 24 undergraduate science and mathematics majors into K-12 teaching.  The University will actively seek undergraduate math and science majors interested in becoming teacher candidates, and will also collaborate with Mercer County Community College to recruit transfer students interested in majoring in STEM fields and pursuing teacher certification at the elementary or secondary levels. The project, a joint initiative of the University’s College of Education and College of Science and Health, will be led by Djanna Hill, professor of secondary and middle school education, and Jyoti Champanerkar, associate professor of mathematics.

A nearly $2 million Turnaround School Leaders Program Grant from the U.S. Department of Education will allow the University to develop leadership programs at four public schools in Paterson and, in cooperation with Kean University, at several schools in Plainfield.

William Paterson will establish the Turnaround Partnerships-New Jersey project in collaboration with School 6, School 10, School 13, and School 28 in Paterson as well as the district leadership of Paterson Public Schools; Kean University and the Charles H. Stillman School and the Hubbard School in Plainfield and the district leadership of Plainfield Public Schools; the Paterson Education. The funds will support professional development for 56 principals, assistant principals and teacher leaders. . The grant will also support 20 individuals with scholarships at William Paterson University and Kean University for district educators seeking to earn master’s degrees.

William Paterson also received a $130,000 grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation to continue a project in the Paterson Public Schools that promotes the interrelationships among disciplines in the arts and sciences. The new grant builds on previous grants from the Dodge Foundation of $75,000 and $125,000 that were used to implement the project that incorporates science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics, known as STEAM.