The University of Northern Iowa and DMACC 2+2 Elementary Education Program is celebrating its 25th anniversary with the largest student class in its history, part of a successful partnership that is expanding in Des Moines and beyond.
UNI alumna Jennifer Stimpson, EdD., has taught a girls’ leadership class in Uganda while living with no Wi-Fi; took a star turn in Oprah’s “O” magazine being recognized as a STEM visionary, won a $10,000 inspiration grant from former basketball superstar Michael Jordan’s Fundamentals Grant Program, and now serves as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Congressional Fellow in Washington, D.C.
Just over 25 years ago, the Des Moines Area Community College reached out to the University of Northern Iowa with a problem: Rural areas of Western Iowa were having trouble attracting quality teaching candidates.
The solution to this issue is still flourishing today - the 2+2 Elementary Education Program, now the longest-running partnership between a university and community college in the state. The program is celebrating its 25th anniversary with the largest student class in its history.
UNI NEWS SERVICES - Rebekah (Bekah) Craighton, a senior at Hampton Dumont High School in Hampton, Iowa, has been awarded the Sally Gearhart Strottman Memorial Scholarship in Elementary Education at the University of Northern Iowa. The UNI College of Education awards this scholarship to an incoming freshman from Northeast Iowa who will pursue a degree in elementary education.
UNI NEWS SERVICES - The University of Northern Iowa’s online master’s in education programs ranked among the top 25% nationally in a recently released 2021 U.S. News and World Report review.
The UNI programs tied for 72nd among 296 programs for master’s degrees in the first year UNI submitted information for this particular category.
2020 brought plenty to be angry about. There’s been a global pandemic, a national reckoning with racial injustice, an economic crisis and a presidential election - all of it debated each day on social media. But UNI education professor Suzanne Freedman, who has specialized in forgiveness research over nearly three decades and teaches a course on the subject, said now may be a good time to remember the benefits of forgiveness, empathy and understanding.
The UNI Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders has welcomed a new addition to their department: baby “Paul.”
Weighing just under two and a half pounds, “Paul” is a preterm infant born at 27 weeks. He has a pulse, real hair, and can breathe and cry.
Paul is not a real infant, though, but rather a top-of-the-line high emotion simulator that students in the department will soon begin using for classwork.
As COVID-19 prompted abrupt, statewide school closures, University of Northern Iowa student teachers on the cusp of becoming fully certified educators found themselves suddenly transitioning the remainder of their semester to an online format and interviewing for positions remotely.
It was a jarring shift, but these students had already completed over 100 hours of classroom experience prior to student teaching and were ready to handle the task.
UNI Associate Professor of Literacy and Education Shuaib Meacham helps teach future educators how to handle race in the classroom. He also leads a local hip hop literacy program to help connect youth to their love of language, and is helping launch a new project aimed at showcasing Iowa’s diversity. Here, he discusses his work and offers advice for using this unprecedented moment to create lasting change.
What are some examples of racial inequality in teaching and education?
When local public school teachers started emailing Michael Graziano, UNI professor of religions, for advice on how to handle religion in the classroom he saw an unmet need. Now, a new $10,000 grant from the Whiting Foundation will allow Graziano to develop a seminar on religion for public school teachers. From how to be inclusive of religious diversity, to how to discuss religion in school curriculum, Graziano has the expertise to help teachers navigate these situations — and a vision for an inclusive future.
