For immediate release:
Cal State L.A. Awarded $478K to
Prepare Future Science Teachers
Los Angeles, CA -- California State University, Los Angeles was recently awarded a $478,689 grant from the National Science Foundation for a program that will support the preparation of 20 to 30 new science teachers over a three-year period.
The NSF-funded Robert Noyce Scholarship Program will increase Cal State L.A.’s production of highly diverse middle and high school science teachers with strong science content knowledge and pedagogical skills, in order to meet the demand for qualified science teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).
Directed by CSULA faculty members David Mayo, assistant professor of geology, and Paul Narguizian, assistant professor of education, the project will also provide opportunities for pre-service science teachers at Cal State L.A. to network with in-service teachers and administrators in the LAUSD.
“The size and prestige of Robert Noyce Scholarships are indications of the critical need to attract talented scientists to teaching careers,” says Professor Mayo. “The ideal Noyce Scholar will have strong science content knowledge and an enthusiasm for teaching.”
Starting January 2006, Cal Sate L.A. will be accepting scholarship applications from talented science majors at community colleges; junior and senior level students at Cal State L.A. with strong STEM (science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics) backgrounds currently majoring in science; and experienced STEM professionals in the Los Angeles area who are interested in changing careers to science teaching.
Each CSULA Noyce Scholar can receive up to two years of scholarships with stipends of up to $10,000 per year, and must agree to teach for two years in a high-need school district for each year of scholarship support. Noyce Scholars will be selected based on academic achievement, under-representation and financial need.
For more about the Robert Noyce Scholarship Program at Cal State L.A., call (323) 343-2420.
Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 185,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds--reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Among programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include a noted alternative energy technology initiative; an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, to be housed in the Los Angeles Regional Crime Lab now under construction. www.calstatela.edu