National Program Seeks to Advance Underrepresented Faculty through Pre-Doctoral Fellowship

By Amy Ginsberg and David Fuentes

Next month, members will gather for AACTE’s 75^th Annual meeting and immerse ourselves in several days of sessions within the theme of “Innovation through Inspiration: Remembering the Past to Revolutionize the Future.” As representatives of an institution of higher education that was founded in 1855 as the Paterson City Normal School in response to the growing demand for professional preparation of teachers-in-service in the emerging free public schools of Paterson, New Jersey, and one that is now a comprehensive university that proudly wears its designation of Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and is led by a president who is a first-generation college graduate and a member of LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education, we are excited to share an initiative that aligns with AACTE’s Annual Meeting theme.

In fall 2023, William Paterson University will welcome two pre-doctoral fellows into the College of Education, one in teacher education (preferably with a specialization in early childhood education or secondary education), and one in special education. Applications are now being accepted for this unique pre-doctoral fellowship program aimed at supporting career development of faculty from underrepresented backgrounds.

Building and Sustaining Recruitment Pathways for Black and Latino Male Teachers

By David Fuentes and Amy Ginsberg

In the following article, David A. Fuentes and Amy Ginsberg of the College of Education at William Paterson, a member of AACTE’s Network Improvement Community (NIC) Black and Hispanic/Latino Male Teacher Initiative, take a deep dive into their efforts to increase dual enrollment opportunities as a preemptive recruitment strategy. They provide insight into how network improvement science can be used to identify levers within education preparation program systems that can improve recruitment and retention of diverse teacher candidates.  

To learn more about NIC members’ initiatives to recruit and retain Black and Latina males, watch the  Building Recruitment Pathways, a segment of AACTE’s new NIC video case studies series. 

Building and Sustaining Recruitment Pathways for Black and Latino Male Teachers 

In 2014, our College of Education at William Paterson University, a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and Minority Serving Institution (MSI), located in the greater New York City area, was selected as one of ten universities to participate in the AACTE Network Improvement Community (NIC), aimed at increasing the number of Black and Latino/Hispanic male teachers (BLMs). Since that time, we have been engaged in iterative cycles of plan-do-study-act (PDSA). This systematic research first led to our becoming NIC mindful and then to several structural changes in our College of Education that make our efforts aimed at teacher diversification more possible today in both theory and practice. We have uncovered, implemented, and tested the efficacy of several structural changes at our institution targeting key drivers, recruitment and retention, while implementing new structures based on network improvement science and our desire and commitment to diversify our teacher candidate pool.