UNI Legislative Update
The Office of Governmental Relations provides legislative updates to the campus community through online communication and bimonthly campus presentations. These updates will inform faculty, staff and students of hot topics facing the legislature and legislative actions affecting UNI and the Regents institutions.
April 25, 2008
Thank You and Congratulations!
Congratulations and thank you to everyone who played a part in securing funding for the Regents Math and Science Initiative, which will be headquartered at UNI. House File 2679, which contains the funding for the Initiative has now been sent to the Governor for his signature.
The Governor has thirty days following the adjournment of the General Assembly to take action. Due to the fact that the Math and Science Initiative was one of the Governor's highest priorities, it is widely expected he will approve the appropriation.
Again, thank you and congratulations!
Below is the news release being issued today by UNI regarding the approval of the Math and Science Initiative
Iowa Legislature approves $4 million for the Regents Mathematics and Science Education Collaborative Initiative
CEDAR FALLS, IA -- The Iowa Legislature has approved $4 million for the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, Mathematics and Science Education Collaborative Initiative.
The Initiative is led by the University of Northern Iowa in collaboration with the University of Iowa and Iowa State University. The Initiative has three basic goals: 1) To improve mathematics and science performance of Iowa students; 2) To prepare more high-quality mathematics and science teachers for Iowa's schools; and 3) To promote statewide collaboration and cooperation.
"We appreciate the outstanding support of the governor, his staff and the legislators for their confidence and funding of this Initiative," said Ben Allen, UNI president. "We look forward to working not only with the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, but with all the stakeholders across the state on this vital task of restoring Iowa's historic leadership position in math and science education."
"I'm excited to work collaboratively with the various stakeholders as we strengthen math and science education opportunities for teachers and our young generation of students who will prove to be the backbone of our 21st century economy and society," said Jeff Weld, Initiative leader.
To further the goals of the Initiative, several projects are proposed including the establishment of 1) the Regents Mathematics and Science Education Institute -- to be located at UNI, with faculty and staff distributed at all three state universities; 2) Star Math and Science Majors to Teaching -- addresses teacher shortage by recruiting students into math and science teaching; 3) Science and Math Teacher Real World Interns -- summer math and science-related internships in the private and public sector for math and science; 4) wider implementation of Project Lead The Way (PLTW) across Iowa -- targets math and science curriculum and student recruitment to math and science careers; 5) community college STEM instructor preparation and updates -- addresses shortage of math and science instructors at community colleges.