Grant for Teacher Training
April 14, 2015
UT Tyler Office of Marketing and Communications
UT Tyler Awarded $80,000 Grant to Enhance K-12 Curriculum
April 14, 2015
Media Contact: Hannah Buchanan
Editor/Writer–Strategic Communications & Media Relations
Marketing and Communications
The University of Texas at Tyler
903.539.7196 (cell)
April 14, 2015
The University of Texas at Tyler has received a substantial materials grant to provide educational training for K-12 teachers, Dr. Martin Slann, College of Arts and Sciences dean, announced.
With the $80,000 award – the largest of its kind in Texas – the UT Tyler Center for Economic Education and Financial Literacy will equip area teachers with the knowledge and tools they need to incorporate economics and personal finance into the K-12 curriculum.
“This grant, awarded by the Council for Economic Education in New York and funded by State Farm Insurance, has the potential to positively impact the lives of 50,000 young people in Northeast Texas,” said Susan Doty, UT Tyler center director. “We are able to offer this level of outreach to elementary, middle and high school teachers because of the generous support of our local sponsors – Texas Bank and Trust, Austin Bank and Southside Bank – whose collective financial support was key to us receiving this grant.”
Materials from Virtual Economics 4.5 will be distributed to K-12 math, social studies, business and gifted teachers in Regions VII and VIII through a series of 25 full-day professional development teacher-training workshops.
By the year’s end, the center will train 500 area teachers on the ways to integrate economics and personal finance into their curriculum.
“This is not a drop in program; it is not a one-time, independent unit,” Doty added. “Rather, it is an approach that helps teachers integrate real-world math and the economic way of thinking into the courses they teach as part of the state curriculum. The effects of this grant are even more impressive over time.”
For information about teacher workshops, email Doty, sdoty@uttyler.edu.
Launched in 2011, the UT Tyler Center for Economic Education and Financial Literacy is one of six university centers in Texas affiliated with the Texas Council on Economic Education in Houston and the CEE.
The center’s founding director, Doty serves as a senior lecturer in economics within the UT Tyler Department of Social Sciences.
For more information about the center, visit uttyler.edu/ceefl/.
One of the 15 campuses of the UT System, UT Tyler features excellence in teaching, research, artistic performance and community service. More than 80 undergraduate and graduate degrees are available at UT Tyler, which has an enrollment of more than 8,000 high-ability students. UT Tyler offers courses at its campuses in Tyler, Longview and Palestine as well as a location in Houston.