Bellarmine University has received a five-year $1.45 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce program to “recruit and prepare highly qualified science and mathematics teachers” for Kentucky middle and high schools, according to a news release from the school.
The grant aims to help alleviate a teacher shortage in STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and math. It will support at least 25 students in Bellarmine’s Annsley Frazier Thornton School of Education who intend to teach physics, chemistry, biology and math. Noyce Knight Scholars may be undergraduate and or graduate students.
Dr. Kristin Cook, associate dean of the School of Education, said, “The students who get selected for funding will become part of a national network of Noyce Scholars. They will be presenting alongside our team, and they will be hopefully publishing with us. … We will work with JCPS to ensure they’re in selective placements where they’ve got strong mentorship.”
Jefferson County Public Schools is one of several partners of Bellarmine’s Noyce program.
In 2019, the school received a similar Noyce grant of $125,000 with which Bellarmine constructed a way for students to enter the Masters of Arts in Teaching program early, formed recruitment pipelines and created new community partners.
The other community partners are JCPS Academies of Louisville, Jefferson Community and Technical College, Kentucky Community & Technical College System, the Kentucky Science Center and the University of Kentucky.
Applications for the first cohort of Noyce Knight Scholars were to be due on Aug. 19.
