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STEMx New Member Spotlight: West Virginia

Mar 16, 2016

Today we’re talking to Dr. Gay Stewart of West Virginia University where she is the founding director of the WVU Center for Excellence in STEM Education (CE-STEM). Dr. Stewart is also a professor of STEM education and physics. Since having her first child she has wanted to help make the world a better place and realized that opening the doors to STEM education was a way to do just that.

Welcome Dr. Stewart! Please tell us about the WVU Center for Excellence in STEM Education and the work that it’s doing.

Dr. Gay Stewart of West Virginia, new member of STEMx

Dr. Gay Stewart of West Virginia, new member of STEMx

Improving STEM education for the university and the state is one of WVU’s five Mountains of Excellence. With faculty working together from across the university in this trans-disciplinary research effort, WVU CE-STEM aspires to make WVU a national model of high quality STEM education, encouraging more students to study, and retaining more students in STEM courses, that will open doors to successful STEM careers. WVU is dedicated to its land-grant mission, and we want to work with our colleagues in the governor’s office and the state Department of Education to make sure all West Virginia children have access to the economic future that a solid STEM education provides!

What is the biggest accomplishment of the WVU Center for Excellence in STEM Education so far?

We serve as the home for our campus’ UTeach replication program, WVUteach, and have joined as a partner in 100Kin10, looking to more than double the number of highly qualified mathematics and science teachers we produce, and to support them in their early careers so they stay in the classroom.

What is UTeach?

UTeach began at the University of Texas Austin in 1997. It is a university-based, secondary STEM teacher preparation program designed specifically for undergraduate STEM majors; this creates a unique collaboration between the colleges of science, education, and liberal arts at a university. UTeach combines extensive, individualized coaching with intensive field-based teaching opportunities and relevant content. Students in the program earn degrees in their content areas (e.g., mathematics, biology, chemistry) along with a teaching certification; this offers students ‘one degree, two career options’ with no additional time or cost. WVUteach is in the most recent cohort, cohort 6, which started in 2015. We currently have 84 students participating in the program with high retention rates and are looking forward to growing the program over the coming semesters.

The UTeach program - major success in West Virginia

The UTeach program – a major success in West Virginia

What does it mean to be a member of STEMx?

STEMx gives us the access to experts who are doing this work well. We are all at different stages in the process and there is a rich variety of programs and tools to drive improvement in STEM education. We all care passionately about this work, and members of the network are willing to provide significant support to those who share these goals. It is amazing!

What do you think other STEMx states could learn from your work so far in West Virginia?

West Virginia knows that workers in STEM occupations drive our state’s innovation and economic competitiveness. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin commissioned the West Virginia Council on STEM report in 2014. West Virginia is expected to add 25,000 STEM jobs by 2018 and STEM is the fastest growing job sector in number and income. We realize that public and private organizations, foundations, and post-secondary institutions all are needed with strong business partnerships to drive STEM success in our state. WVUCE-STEM has faculty with significant expertise to help support this effort. I think the states making progress are the states that recognize the need for these sorts of partnerships, where everyone works together to do what is best for the students. We hope to be a shining example one day, right now, we are really looking forward to sharing in the expertise STEMx represents.

By Rob Evans 01 Nov, 2023
by Heather Sherman, Director of STEMx The 2023 STEM Innovation Forum: Activating Collaborations to Advance an Inclusive STEM Workforce was a success! Through our collaboration with STEMconnector and Million Women Mentors, we convened 160 leaders from industry, government, non-profit organizations, and education institutions from all over the United States to discuss strategies and best practices to support the STEM workforce. We were honored to host a variety of dynamic speakers including: Jared Polis, Governor of Colorado Brynt Parmeter, Chief Talent Management Officer, U.S. Department of Defense Dr. Athina Kanioura, Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, PepsiCo and Dr. Lisa Hinkelman, Founder and CEO of Ruling Our eXperiences (RoX). We extend our gratitude to our panelists, Learning Session speakers, and participants who joined us in Denver. Broadening participation We set out share information on trends in STEM education and workforce development, with an emphasis on broadening participation in STEM careers. Resources from sessions highlighting strategies for broadening participation are linked below: DoD STEM: Developing a STEM Workforce to Support the National Security Mission Priming the Pump for High Demand STEM Careers STEM Workforce Readiness for Teen Girls: “If She Can See It, She Can Be It” Driving change Another goal of the forum was to feature high impact strategies, programs and solutions that are driving change, and STEMx members from LASTEM , the PAST Foundation and MBRT showed how they are engaging youth and building career awareness through their workforce programs. Emerging technologies We looked towards the future to better understand how emerging technologies will change the world and the ways we must prepare STEM talent for jobs in logistics, artificial intelligence, research safety , bioenergy , and renewable technologies. Chevron‘s sponsored panel, “Cultivating the Talent to Drive the Innovation and Technologies for Ever-Cleaner Energy” was a rich discussion featuring experts from Chevron, Project Lead the Way and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Dr. Jamie Vernon, Executive Director, and CEO, Sigma Xi Society was a fantastic moderator for this discussion. Next steps We have linked event resources including videos, slide decks and collateral on the event landing page . The event photo gallery is located there as well. If you attended, please complete our 30 second event survey . Five lucky winners will be selected at random to receive a Forum water bottle! More importantly, your feedback matters to us. If you did not attend, mark your calendar for next fall - we’re looking to make next year even bigger! If you are interested in hosting in your state, or have thoughts about compelling content that we should include, please reach out to Heather Sherman .
By Rob Evans 03 Oct, 2023
Join us for The STEM Innovation Forum: Activating Collaborations to Advance an Inclusive STEM Workforce
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