Virginia State University to receive $1 million to train STEM teachers

ETTRICK Virginia State University is set to receive $1 million to help science, technology, engineering and mathematics students obtain secondary teaching certifications. 

The university was selected by Gov. Ralph Northam as a part of HBCUTeach, a nationwide initiative that recruits undergraduate STEM majors at historically Black colleges and universities to become teachers. 

"In the next five years, 150 thousand new jobs will come available in the STEM fields. We want those jobs to be employed by people of all races, backgrounds and genders,” said Dr. Willis Walter, Dean of the VSU College of Education. "That means we will have to do something different in the areas of math and science education."

HBCUTeach, hailing from the National Math and Science Initiative in collaboration with the UTeach Institute and Fund II, is a new effort to aid future STEM teachers. Students in the program can obtain their secondary teaching degree at no additional cost or time in school.

VSU is among one of the first HBCU's to implement the program. Ten other HBCU's, including Norfolk State University, are also a part of the initiative to bring HBCUTeach to historically Black institutions. 

HBCU's generates 24% of Black students with STEM degrees and a quarter of Black students with bachelor degrees in education, despite making up three percent of the nation's colleges and universities, according to the UTeach Institute at the University of Texas at Austin.

Virginia is the first state in the nation to allocate public funds for this initiative. $500,000 was allotted to the VSUTeach program, with an additional $500 thousand from  Dr. Ernst and Dr. Sara Lane Volgenau, founder of Fairfax-based SRA International, bringing the total to $1 million. 

"UTeach will help address our existing teacher shortage and create a pool of diverse, talented STEM educators who are equipped to ensure Virginia students have the knowledge, skills and mindsets necessary to thrive in the ever-changing, technologically advanced, global society,” Northam said.

Tamica Jean-Charles covers all things social justice for the Progress-Index. You can find her on Twitter @thisistamica. You can also reach out to her at tjeancharles@progress-index.com.