University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak will join with President Barack Obama and other national education leaders in a celebration of the President’s “Education to Innovate” campaign today at the White House.
The “Educate to Innovate” campaign seeks to lift American students to the top in science and math achievement over the next decade. President Obama will announce several new and innovative partnerships involving large companies, universities, foundations, non-profit organizations and government agencies designed to attract, develop, reward and retain outstanding educators in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Among the partnerships to be announced by the President is the expansion of the National Math and Science Initiative’s UTeach Program. UCCS, along with five universities, was recently selected to replicate the University of Texas-Austin-based program that aims to produce more K-12 math and science teachers.
“I am honored to join with the President and leaders of education and industry in a unified goal to improve science and math education in our nation’s classrooms,” Shockley-Zalabak said. “This effort will create a pipeline of innovators to our universities and to positions in industry, government and defense.”
The 20 universities replicating UTeach will prepare over 4,500 talented math and science teachers by 2015 and 7,000 by 2018 which will improve the education of more than one million students by 2017. The new teachers will affect more than 20 million students during their teaching careers.
For more about the UTeach program, visit http://www.uteach.utexas.edu
Included in the celebration planned for 1:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time will be Texas Instruments Chief Executive Officer Rich Templeton, Dell Computer founder Michael Dell, more than 100 award-winning teachers, and university leaders.
To see a video of the event, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/live/president-obama-honors-educators-educate-innovate-event
Following the meeting with President Obama, Shockley-Zalabak and other education leaders met with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
For more about “Educate to Innovate” and other organizations planned to be honored at the White House, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/background-presidents-event-educate-innovate-campaign-today
The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, located on Austin Bluffs Parkway in Colorado Springs, is one of the fastest growing universities in the nation. The University offers 34 bachelor’s degrees, 19 master’s and five doctoral degrees. The campus enrolls about 8,500 students annually.