Texas A&M Wins Federal Grant to Tackle Teacher Shortage in Texas
The School of Education and Human Development will lead research to support future educators.
This article was originally published by Texas A&M Today.
Texas A&M University will address the demand for teachers in Texas with the help of a $3 million Hispanic Serving Institution capacity-building grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
Through the five-year grant, the School of Education and Human Development (SEHD) will lead the development and assessment of a pilot program to recruit, mentor, and retain students who want to major in education or human resource development.
During the pilot, SEHD will provide its expertise in academic coaching, advising and essential services as well as partner with academic units and divisions across the campus, including the Division of Student Affairs and the Department of Admissions and Undergraduate Recruitment and Outreach.
The partnerships across Texas A&M will allow for the creation of best practices for student recruitment, retention and development that can be quickly adopted and benefit the entire campus.
“Our school is proud and privileged to represent Texas A&M at the forefront of this pilot program,” said Michael A. de Miranda, dean of SEHD. “Through our research and the expertise of our faculty and staff, we will seek solutions to help more students from particularly underserved regions of Texas grow, develop, and succeed.”
The federal grant is the first Texas A&M has won since being designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution in 2022 and furthers the university’s commitment to serve all students across Texas including A&M’s Higher Education Center in McAllen.
Alan Sams, Texas A&M provost and vice president for academic affairs, expressed his excitement about the grant. “I am pleased that through Texas A&M’s first Hispanic Serving Institution Capacity-Building Grant, the School of Education and Human Development will launch a focused pilot program to attract and educate students that are destined to become great teachers or human resource professionals by offering a range of targeted programs, resources, and support services to make them successful. The goal of the project to foster transformative and empowering educational experiences aligns with the ambitious objectives of our academic mission at Texas A&M. This grant helps enable us to focus on this critical need for our society in education and professionals who help organizations develop,” he said.
The program will run from January 2024 to the end of 2028.
Tags: diversity, equity, inclusion, shortage
