UC s First Cohort of Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellows Announced

Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor James M. Petro today, in conjunction with the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, announced the state’s first Woodrow Wilson Ohio Teaching Fellows, which include 18 University of Cincinnati fellows who will begin earning their master’s degrees this summer through the UC College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH).

Helen Meyer, coordinator of the Woodrow Wilson program at UC and director of the FUSION Center in CECH, attended the announcement this afternoon in Columbus.

The program provides stipends to outstanding students who are preparing to teach math and science, provided that they dedicate three years to teaching in high-need urban or rural schools.

The UC Woodrow Wilson STEM Teaching Fellows will complete an intensive, year-long field-based master’s degree in UC’s teacher education program and licensure under the mentorship of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) faculty in CECH, as well as UC’s McMicken College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) and UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS).

UC was awarded $500,000 from the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship Program last year to begin preparations for the program, and provided $500,000 in matching funds. The Woodrow Wilson Foundation will provide UC with an additional $540,000 to fund the $30,000 stipends for the fellows, says Meyer. “After our year of planning, the UC Woodrow Wilson Program is ready and excited to have such a strong group of fellows on campus next month,” Meyer says.

Their experience will also include immersion in UC’s STEM partnerships with Cincinnati Public Schools – the Hughes STEM High School, Taft IT High School, Woodward Career Technical High School and Withrow University High School – all part of a K-16 pipeline to ensure the academic success of every student in the Cincinnati USA region and to strengthen the future Ohio workforce.

“We are thrilled to be a part of this outstanding partnership, which we believe will strengthen the content knowledge of our educators in the critical 21st century skill areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” said Cincinnati Public Schools Superintendent Mary Ronan.

The first cohort of UC’s Woodrow Wilson STEM Fellows will begin their orientation at UC on June 15, followed by a summer field experience that gets underway on June 20. They are:

Bailey Blake, Strongsville, Ohio
Teaching area: Mathematics
Undergraduate study: BS in mechanical engineering – Ohio Northern University

Jason Duncan, Columbus, Ohio
Teaching area: Life Sciences
Undergraduate study: BS in biological sciences – James Madison University; PhD in Biological Sciences – The Ohio State University

Angel Fields, Hamilton, Ohio
Teaching area: Chemistry
Undergraduate study: BA in chemistry – University of Cincinnati

Amy Gunderman, Hillsboro, Ohio
Teaching area: Life Sciences
Undergraduate study: BS in biology – John Carroll University

Katelin Jarmin, Hillsboro, Ohio
Teaching area: Life Sciences
Undergraduate study: BS in biology – The Ohio State University

Emily Kill, Spencerville, Ohio
Teaching area: Chemistry
Undergraduate study: BS in pharmacology – The Ohio State University

Daniel Kmetz, Strongsville, Ohio
Teaching area: Mathematics
Undergraduate study: BA in mathematics – Calvin College, Mich.

Brian Laiveling, Cincinnati
Teaching area: Physics
Undergraduate study: BS in mechanical engineering – University of Cincinnati

Samuel Linser, Cincinnati
Teaching area: Physics
Undergraduate study: BA in physics – University of Cincinnati

Brooke McCullough, Canfield, Ohio
Teaching area: Life Sciences
Undergraduate study: BS in biology – University of Cincinnati

Roosevelt Merritts, Cincinnati
Teaching area: Mathematics
Undergraduate study: BA in mathematics, Morehouse College

Jared Nerenberg, Middletown, Ohio
Teaching area: Life Sciences
Undergraduate study: BS in health sciences – University of Cincinnati

Shawn Rockey, Lebanon, Ohio
Teaching area: Physics/Mathematics
Undergraduate study: BS in engineering – University of Cincinnati

Jacob Shafer, Columbus, Ohio
Teaching area: Mathematics
Undergraduate study: BA in mathematics – Denison University

David Sofge, Batavia, Ohio
Teaching area: Mathematics
Undergraduate study: BA in mathematics – University of North Florida

Jordan Woods, Covington, Ky.
Teaching area: Life Sciences
Undergraduate study: BS in neuroscience – University of Cincinnati

Lynsi Woods, Canal Winchester, Ohio
Teaching area: Life Sciences
Undergraduate study: BA in zoology – Miami University

Angela Yake, South Charleston, Ohio
Teaching area: Mathematics
Undergraduate study: BS in management information systems – Wright State University

UC and three other Ohio universities – the University of Akron, John Carroll University and The Ohio State University – were named as Woodrow Wilson STEM Fellows institutions in March 2010, following an earlier site visit. Recruitment got underway in late fall/winter. At today’s announcement, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation announced expansion in Ohio. Universities joining the Woodrow Wilson Ohio Teaching Fellowship are Ohio University, the University of Dayton and the University of Toledo.

The Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship was introduced in Indiana in 2007, followed by Michigan and now Ohio. The fellowships are supported by private philanthropies and state funding. In Ohio, the program is made possible with federal Race to the Top funds as well as commitments from six Ohio funders, including The Cleveland Foundation, George Gund Foundation, Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, GAR Foundation, Battelle Memorial Institute and The Battelle Fund at the Columbus Foundation, plus matching funds provided by the campuses. Additional support for the program came from the state’s Choose Ohio First program.

The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, named in honor of our country’s 28th president, supports excellence in teaching, citizen-scholarship and educational innovation. Woodrow Wilson was the only American president to have earned a PhD and was a respected scholar, a popular teacher, and during his presidency at Princeton University (1902-1910), an educational reformer who sought to make higher education more inclusive.

The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation website reports that details about 2012 Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowships will be announced this June. For more information on the Woodrow Wilson Ohio Teaching Fellowship Program at UC, call 513-556-5115 or e-mail Woodrow.wilson@uc.edu

Woodrow Wilson Foundation Announcement

Click here for more key dates regarding the UC Woodrow Wilson STEM Fellows