UPPER SAUCON TOWNSHIP — For DeSales University sophomore Mackenzie McManamon, an education major, the welcome news came as no great surprise.
“The university receiving these grants for the education department will help us so much,” McManamon said. “While getting the grants is such a good thing, our school is always motivated to help us succeed.”
- DeSales University received two state grants of nearly $200,000 to benefit the school's education department
- The university welcomed Pennsylvania Department of Education Executive Deputy Secretary, Angela Fitterer, and Dr. Carissa Pokorny-Golden, director of Bureau of School Leadership and Teacher Quality
- DeSales is one of only seven colleges and universities in Pennsylvania to receive the grants
DeSales on Friday unveiled its latest commitment to helping its students become the best they can be, announcing it has gotten two state grants totaling nearly $200,000 over the next two years that will benefit the education department.
In conjunction with the grant announcement, the university welcomed Pennsylvania Education Department Executive Deputy Secretary Angela Fitterer and Carissa Pokorny-Golden, director of PDE’s Bureau of School Leadership and Teacher Quality.
The state education leaders met with some of the school's nearly 100 education major students and visited several classrooms in the education department.
The Aspiring to Educate grant is a STEM (science, technology, engineering or math)/Computer Science grant that will let the education department examine four areas: Funding scholarships for local teachers to receive their STEM endorsement through the university’s STEM endorsement program, housing an AP institute on DeSales’ campus where local teachers can train to teach the AP exam in calculus and computer science, gain state approval to offer teachers a secondary certification in computer science for grades 7-12 and provide support and guidance to local schools that participate in the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science Fair.
The Teacher Prep to Practice grant will let the education department focus on recruiting new teachers to the workforce at the undergraduate, graduate and adult studies levels, with an emphasis on attracting candidates from diverse backgrounds.
“It’s such a worthwhile investment. Teachers need to feel supported in the field and feel like they’re being prepared.”Angela Fitterer, Pennsylvania Department of Education Executive Deputy Secretary
DeSales is one of only seven institutions of higher learning in the state to get the Aspiring to Educate grant.
“The university came up with programs that work locally,” Fitterer said. “One grant is specific to STEM and teachers and principals.
"We also heard from students about field experience, to see how they might interact with students when they get to be teachers. We’re here hearing from the university to show what they’re doing with the grants to help their students.
“It’s such a worthwhile investment. Teachers need to feel supported in the field and feel like they’re being prepared.”
Pokorny-Golden explained the grants span a great many areas, from students and middle school and high school interested in teaching, to para-professionals possibly going into teaching.
“These grants will allow the university to help their students in so many ways,” she said.
DeSales is the only institute of higher education in the Lehigh Valley to receive the grants.
The Aspiring to Educate: STEM/Computer Science grant was authored by Danielle Kearns-Sixsmith, director of field experience/assistant professor at DeSales. Kearns-Sixsmith said the grant proposals drove the initiative to make the changes DeSales deemed necessary in Lehigh Valley.
“By the state awarding us these grants, we know our strategies and visions are what the research showed we needed,” Kearns-Sixsmith said.
She noted the Practice to Prep grant was made in partnership with the Bethlehem Area School District, and the Aspiring to Education grant was in cooperation with the Allentown School District
“The Practice to Prep grant is about recruiting, preparing, and retaining teachers to go into education,” she said. “The STEM-CS grant allows us to have a summer program for college-level classes.
"The Allentown School District and DeSales are going to have a cohort of current Allentown teachers become STEM leaders.”
Fitterer said this is the first time grants of these types have been awarded. The grants received by DeSales were developed and approved under the administration of former Gov. Tom Wolf, who increased education funding more than $3.7 billion since 2015, with an increase of $1.8 billion in Wolf's final budget.
Fitterer said she is hopeful the grants project will continue under current Gov. Josh Shapiro.
“Gov. Shapiro’s first budget address is in March,” she said. “So we won’t know until June whether he’ll support these going forward. “
Kearns-Sixsmith identified the grants as a catalyst that recognizes the work that is being asked for.
“We’re heeding that call,” she said.
