04/09/18
HAYS, Kan. – Scholarships for the Noyce Teacher Leader program at Fort Hays State University have been granted an additional $1.45 million from the National Science Foundation to extend the program into the spring of 2023. The award will support eight $13,000 scholarships for future mathematics or science teachers each year.

Combined with the grant awarded in 2012, the Noyce funding for FHSU totals almost $2.7 million to provide scholarships for junior or senior education students majoring in a science or mathematics field.

“This is a great award for expanding STEM educator scholarships,” said Dr. Paul Adams, dean of the College of Education at Fort Hays State. “In addition, the award will assist in recruiting students from community colleges who aspire to a career in science or mathematics teaching.”

Adams noted that FHSU’s Noyce program also has funding to provide scholarships for students transferring from community colleges in Barton County, Colby, Dodge City, Garden City and Seward County.

The ultimate aim of the program, said Adams, is to expand the workforce in the STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – by training teachers of science and mathematics for middle and high schools.

Funding for the program comes through the NSF from the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, created by the family of Noyce, who was a co-founder of Intel.

At FHSU, the program also funds a variable number of Noyce Summer Scholars for the university’s Science and Mathematics Education Institute. The scholars receive a stipend of $550 per week for five weeks to work in summer programs for area youth – summer camps for math and science in various contexts.

Directors of FHSU’s Noyce Program are Adams; Dr. Gavin Buffington, chair of the Department of Physics; Dr. Janet Stramel, associate professor of teacher education; and Dr. Bill Weber, assistant professor of mathematics.

Information on the Fort Hays State Noyce Teacher Leader program, including links to application and reference forms, can be found at www.fhsu.edu/smei/noyce/.