This fall the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, known since 1945 for highly competitive fellowships, will offer your best students a new fellowship opportunity. I write to invite you to nominate candidates to apply­promising juniors and seniors, as well as recent graduates with whom you may still be in touch.

This new award, the Woodrow Wilson Indiana Teaching Fellowship, seeks to attract talented, committed mathematics, science, and engineering graduates into teaching in high-need high schools. Funded through a $10 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, the Fellowship offers rigorous disciplinary and pedagogical preparation, extensive clinical experience, and ongoing mentoring.

The Woodrow Wilson Indiana Teaching Fellowship will provide recent college graduates and career changers in STEM fields with a $30,000 stipend during a master’s degree program at one of four Indiana universities. The master’s program will prepare Fellows in urban and rural high schools that function well but serve primarily disadvantaged students. In exchange, Fellows commit to teach math or science for three years in an Indiana secondary school. Upon completing the master’s degree and teaching certification, Fellows will be placed in teaching jobs in participating districts, where they will receive continued support and mentoring. More details about the program are available at www.woodrow.org/indiana.

We invite you to nominate promising undergraduates (Class of ’09) with strong academic records to apply for this inaugural class of Fellows. Competitive candidates will meet the following standards:


·         They have completed or are completing a math, science, or engineering
major as undergraduates.
·         They will graduate in the top ten percent of their class.
·         They demonstrate a commitment to the program and its goals.
·         They are willing to reside in Indiana while completing their master’s degree and three-year teaching commitment.


Any student(s) you nominate will receive a letter of invitation to apply, information about the Fellowship, and a link to the online application form.


Nominees’ names and contact information may be sent to WWTeachingFellowships@woodrow.org . Please also feel free to forward this message to colleagues who might choose to nominate candidates. In addition, you will soon receive a packet of materials for posting where students are likely to see them.


The Fellowship application will be available online this summer, with a submission deadline of December 15, 2008. Many candidates, however, will need to give the possibility some careful thought during the summer. Your early response will therefore be key in giving them the time they need to contemplate applying and prepare their application materials.

Many of us in the academy expect top students to pursue academic research and college teaching, or perhaps corporate research positions. But there are others, equally talented, who might decide not to work in a lab or lecture hall. Their scholarly preparation can become an unmatched asset for the high school students who need good teachers the most. And it is clear that, without strong math and science teaching in high school, we will find fewer well-prepared students in our college classrooms, particularly from low-income urban and rural backgrounds.

Your help in identifying candidates with the potential to become a new breed of high school teacher can therefore have an enormous impact on their lives and on future students who come to you. Thank you, in advance, for offering your nominations. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Rocco Russo, Program Officer, Teaching Fellowships, 609-452-7707 x 161, or WWTeachingFellowships@woodrow.org.



Sincerely,





Arthur Levine
President
Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
WWTeachingFellowships@woodrow.org