Noyce Austin College STEM Education Leadership Scholars Program
The Austin College STEM Education Leadership Scholarship (ACSELS) Program is designed to provide financial and programmatic support to recruit and develop strong science, technology and math teacher leaders committed to working in high needs districts.
With generous funding from the National Science Foundation, 2-3 scholarships will be available for the 2019-2020 academic year to rising seniors* and rising graduate students** who are majoring in a discipline that aligns to a STEM teaching field offered by the Austin Teacher Program and intending to complete the Masters of Arts in Teaching program at Austin College. Scholarships will be awarded through a competitive selection process.
*Rising seniors should have at least 25 credits by the end of Spring 2020 and/or one undergraduate academic year remaining.
**Rising graduate students should have completed at least 34 credits by the end of Spring 2020.
Scholars receive
- A scholarship of up to $25,000 for senior year and up to $40,000 towards the graduate year. (Scholarship awards cannot exceed demonstrated financial need.)
- A paid summer internship opportunity in an informal STEM education setting for recipients who are rising seniors in the summer between their junior and senior year
- Individualized STEM and Education department mentoring in addition to regular Austin College mentoring
- One-on-one teacher mentoring for the senior year, graduate year, and 1st year of teaching
- $1000 towards professional development travel in first year of teaching
- Possible paid travel for recruitment and Noyce-related conferences
The ACSELS Scholarship is renewable annually as long as the recipient maintains a 2.75 cumulative and content GPA on a 4.0 scale and maintains adequate progress on ATP coursework and teaching experiences. ACSEL Scholars must be United States citizens or permanent legal residents and must intend to major in the area that corresponds with their ATP certification fields (biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics). Women, underrepresented minority students, students with diverse learning abilities, and first-generation college students are especially encouraged to apply.
Basis for Consideration
The Scholarship Committee will consider candidates based on the following:
- Evidence of academic achievement, minimum GPA for consideration is 2.75 on a 4.0 scale for both cumulative and content area GPA’s
- Diversity
- Teaching Statement
- Financial need
- Faculty Recommendation Forms (Listed faculty will receive a link to the digital form once the student submits the application.)
The Selection Process
Applicants should plan ahead. FAFSA information must be available to determine financial need. A FAFSA listing Austin College as your school choice must be submitted prior to March 6, 2020 to be eligible for consideration.
Both the application and the recommendation letters must be submitted (or received) by March 6, 2020 by 3:00 p.m.
Each application will be considered by a committee of representatives from the departments of biology, chemistry, computer science, education, mathematics, and physics.
Recipients will generally be notified regarding awards no later than April 30, 2020 and must accept/decline the award offer by May 6, 2020.
Terms and Conditions
For candidates who have accepted a Robert Noyce Scholarship there is an obligation to teach in a “qualifying” school for a required period of time of 2 years for each year of funding that you received through the Noyce program. If you received two years of funding, you have committed to four years of teaching in a high needs school district or local education agency.
This teaching service must be completed within 8 years of graduation from the Master of Arts in Teaching program. If you do not meet this requirement, you will be required to pay back the scholarship.
The definition of a “qualifying” school is based upon whether the school district of the school meets one or more of the following criteria:
The district has one or more elementary or secondary schools located in an area in which there is:
- a high percentage of individuals from families with incomes below the poverty line;
- a high percentage of secondary school teachers not teaching in the content area in which the teachers were trained to teach; or
- a high teacher turnover rate.
For example, if the district has one or more schools with at least 50% of the student population qualifying for free or reduced-cost lunch (the most common measure of economically disadvantaged schools), then that district qualifies as a “high need local education agency,” and a candidate can teach in any school within that district.
As a candidate, you will be required to annually provide documentation that the school in which you are serving meets the qualifications in order for your Noyce funding to be forgiven. It is imperative that you maintain a current email address and mailing address on file with the Austin Teacher Program at Austin College in order for us to send you the paperwork each year and for you to return it in a timely fashion to meet your reporting obligation. Other documents and surveys may be requested upon graduation if you are participating in the associated research.
Noyce funding is considered a forgivable loan. Candidates who do not complete the obligations listed above will be expected to repay all or a prorated amount of the original award to Austin College.
If you have additional questions, please contact Sandy Philipose.
Support for this work was provided by the National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce Teacher scholarship Program under Award No. 1660547.