FOR RELEASE: Thursday, March 30, 2017

CONTACT: Patrick Riccards | [email protected]  |  (703) 298-8283

WW ACADEMY ANNOUNCES INITIAL FACULTY HIRES

Innovative math educator, noted science mentor join educator preparation team

PRINCETON, N.J. (March 30, 2017)—The Woodrow Wilson Academy of Teaching and Learning, a groundbreaking new educator preparation program created by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has announced the appointment of its first two faculty members.

As the WW Academy’s inaugural Faculty Mentors, the two will work as program designers, teaching facilitators, and mentors to novice teachers. They will collaborate closely with teachers from the Academy’s partner school districts to support teacher candidates, helping them develop into confident and able educators who are ready to improve student learning on day one.

Julianna Stockton, the WW Academy’s founding faculty member, joined the Academy team as its inaugural Faculty Mentor in mathematics. Dr. Stockton brings a wide range of experience to the post. She left a tenured position as Associate Professor of Mathematics and Director of the 3+2 Engineering Program at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT to join the WW Academy faculty. While at Sacred Heart, Stockton also served as Co-PI on a $1.2 million NSF grant to prepare math and biology majors for careers as teachers in high-need school districts. She holds a B.S.M.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Olin and an M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in Mathematics Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

An Olin Partner—one of the students at Olin College of Engineering who helped to design the curriculum and student experience—and a member of Olin’s first graduating class, Stockton has first-hand experience with educational start-ups. The WW Academy “was just too exciting an opportunity to pass up,” she said. “It has the potential to change the world. I really think Woodrow Wilson’s vision of the future of education is spot on.”

Andrew Wild joins the WW Academy team in March 2017 as Faculty Mentor in science. Formerly a Research Associate and Senior Fellow at the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation, Dr. Wild has designed, facilitated, and researched science-learning experiences. He taught science and served in teacher leadership roles in San Francisco Bay Area public high schools. He is a co-author of Arguing From Evidence in Middle School Science: 24 Activities for Productive Talk and Deeper Learning (Corwin, 2016). A magna cum laude graduate of Carleton College, he holds a master’s degree in teaching and a Ph.D. in science education from Stanford University.

Dr. Wild has taught or mentored hundreds of teachers, in interactions ranging from one-day professional development to multiyear mentoring relationships. “Science education has the ability to engage and inspire all students,” he said. “The WW Academy will equip STEM educators with the tools and skills to do just that. I’m excited to be a part of this important effort.”

“The research is clear. Effective teachers are the key to success for our students, our economy, and our nation,” said Arthur Levine, president of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and founding president of the WW Academy. “That success depends on educators who are prepared to teach in the schools of today while leading the creation of the schools of tomorrow. We are fortunate to have Dr. Stockton and Dr. Wild as part of our effort to reimagine teacher education, ensuring the next generation of teachers are fluent in both of those worlds.”

Founded in collaboration with MIT in 2015, the WW Academy of Teaching and Learning is reinventing American teacher preparation for the 21st century. The WW Academy has two components: an educator preparation program and a research and development laboratory. It will initially offer competency-based teacher preparation programs in middle and secondary school math, science, and technology (STEM) teacher education, with other fields to follow. An inaugural group of Design Fellows will begin to pursue and test the WW Academy program in late summer 2017.

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The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation identifies and develops leaders and institutions to meet the nation’s critical challenges. In these areas of challenge, the Foundation awards fellowships to enrich human resources, works to improve public policy, and assists organizations and institutions in enhancing practice. 

The Woodrow Wilson Academy of Teaching and Learning seeks to transform teacher education by creating a model to prepare teachers and school leaders to succeed in the diverse classrooms of today and to shape and lead the schools of tomorrow.

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