Prof receives grant for 20th straight year
University of Houston-Clear Lake Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction Sue Brown received a two-year grant award of $202,283 from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Teacher Quality Grants Program for the UH-Clear Lake Mathematics Institute 2009-2011. The award marks the 20th year that Brown has received funding from the grants program.
“The fact that anyone could receive funding from the state for 20 years in a row is phenomenal in and of itself,” explained James Sherrill, associate dean of the School of Education. “However, mathematics is a ‘high needs’ area in the State of Texas and the U.S. The fact that this series of grants has increased the ability of so many teachers to teach mathematics makes the grants that much more special.
“This series of grants is of enormous value to the university’s School of Education and the State of Texas. Then add to this that this is the largest such grant UH-Clear Lake has had and one can tell just how great Sue Brown's efforts have paid off."
The focus of the 2009-2011 Mathematics Institute is to provide training opportunities for 18 middle school teachers from the Goose Greek and Galveston Independent School Districts.
“During the two years of the grant, teachers will participate in four courses at UH-Clear Lake each focusing on number, operations and proportional reasoning for middle school students,” said Brown. “The grant is paying all tuition and fees for each teacher as well as providing each teacher print materials and classroom sets of manipulatives valued at approximately $4,000 and a $1,000 stipend.”
In the past 20 years, the Mathematics Institute has had an impact on numerous area teachers and their students.
“One current participant shared with me that, ‘These courses have taught me so much, but the resources have also been incredible. I have shared my information and resources with other teachers on my campus this year. You have touched an entire campus,” said Brown.
For more information about the Mathematics Institute at UH-Clear Lake, call Brown, 281-283-3536, or e-mail browns@uhcl.edu.
