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Final Cohort Announced in Woodrow Wilson-Rockefeller Brothers Fund Fellowships
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FOR RELEASE: March 25, 2013
CONTACT: Beverly Sanford | Vice President for Communications | (609) 945-7885
FINAL COHORT ANNOUNCED IN WOODROW WILSON-ROCKEFELLER BROTHERS FUND FELLOWSHIPS
Program provides teacher preparation, support, mentoring for teachers of color
PRINCETON, NJ—The final cohort of Woodrow Wilson-Rockefeller Brothers Fund (WW-RBF) Aspiring Teachers of Color has been selected, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation announced today.
Each of the nine WW-RBF Fellows will receive a $30,000 stipend to complete a master’s degree in education. Fellows prepare to teach in high-need public schools, receiving guidance toward teaching certification and ongoing support throughout a three-year teaching commitment.
The Fellows have all excelled academically, and most also have volunteer mentoring and teaching experience, as well as a demonstrated commitment to teaching. They come from institutions ranging from the University of Southern Maine to Swarthmore and Wellesley Colleges to the University of Arizona and UC-Santa Barbara. (See full list of Fellows below.)
The Fellows, selected through a competitive national process, must be nominated by one of the program’s 48 nominating institutions and 29 graduate education programs. The Fellowship is intended to help address a dearth of teachers of color nationally. Data from 2011 indicate that as few as 17 percent of the nation’s teachers are teachers of color, while the student of color population is now 45 percent nationally.
The Woodrow Wilson Foundation has administered the WW-RBF program since 2009; it was established in 1992 by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund to recruit, support, and retain individuals of color as public education teachers and administrators. Since its inception, the Fellowship has awarded nearly $8 million in grants and financial assistance to more than 400 Fellows.
“The WW-RBF Fellowship has been a powerful complement to the Foundation’s Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowships, which focus on math and science teaching,” said Stephanie J. Hull, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. “We are proud to have helped provide strong new teachers across a wide range of disciplines for the students in high-need schools who most need them.”
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The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation identifies and develops the best minds for the nation’s most important 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 in the U.S. and abroad.
Founded in 1940, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund encourages social change that contributes to a more just sustainable, and peaceful world. The RBF’s grantmaking is organized around three themes: Democratic Practice, Sustainable Development, and Peace and Security, and three pivotal places: New York City, Western Balkans, and Southern China.
Julio Alicea • Swarthmore College, Sociology and Anthropology
Brenda Angulo • University of California—Riverside, Liberal Studies
Ayesha Crockett • The University of Chicago, Biological Sciences
David Flores • University of California—Santa Barbara, History
Ruth Li • Wellesley College, English
Melanya Materne • University of Washington, English
Abdoul Razak Mahamadou Boubacar • University of Southern Maine, Mathematics
Natiely Munguia • University of Arizona, Political Science and Spanish
Ricardo Quezada • University of California—Santa Barbara, History of Public Policy