Elon University will revise its Teaching Fellows program following recent action by the North Carolina General Assembly to phase out funding for the North Carolina Teaching Fellows program. The new Elon fellows program will recruit outstanding students nationally as well as those from North Carolina who want to pursue careers in education.
“We believe strongly in the value of the Teaching Fellows program, and Elon is determined to maintain its commitment to the preparation of high quality teachers,” said David Cooper, dean of Elon’s School of Education. “We will recruit high achieving scholars and continue to offer a program that prepares them to teach in any state where they want to begin their careers.”
Under the new program, beginning with the class enrolling in fall 2012, Elon Teaching Fellows will receive $4,500 annual Teaching Fellows Scholarships and will also be eligible for Elon’s $4,500 annual Presidential Scholarships. As with the current North Carolina Teaching Fellows program, Elon students will spend a semester abroad studying and interning in London or Costa Rica, have a Winter Term leadership seminar on the federal government and education at the Washington Center in Washington, D.C., and an American history study tour of historic East Coast cities such as Philadelphia and Boston. Beginning in fall 2012, Elon will enroll 20 Teaching Fellows in each freshman class.
The North Carolina Teaching Fellows program that is being phased out was established in 1986 and has been considered one of the most ambitious teacher recruitment programs in the nation. About 500 North Carolina students studying at 17 colleges and universities in the state received state-funded scholarships of $6,500 annually, with equal matches from their institutions. Following graduation, the teaching fellows repaid the assistance by teaching in North Carolina schools for one year for each year of scholarship they received.
The state of North Carolina will drop funding for the Teaching Fellows program in 2015. About 90 Elon students already enrolled in the Teaching Fellows program, including those enrolling in fall 2011, will remain in the existing program for their full four years at the university.
To learn more about the Teaching Fellows program and the School of Education, go to: http://www.elon.edu/e-web/academics/education/teaching_fellows/default.xhtml