WSSU Awarded Funding for Next Generation Black STEM Teachers (NGBST) from the U.S. Department of Education

WINSTON-SALEM, NC, December 2021-- Winston-Salem State University has been awarded $1,977,339 from the Department of Education to facilitate the Next Generation Black STEM Teachers (NGBST) program led by Drs. Denise Johnson, Associate Professor Education and Kimberly Pemberton, Associate Professor & Interim Department Chair, Education. 

Drs. Denise Johnson and Kimberly Pemberton’s project is a consortium of five (5) Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) including Claflin University (SC), Fort Valley State University (GA), South Carolina State University (SC), and Virginia Union University (VA). Through this consortium there will be a comprehensive effort to improve teaching and support rigorous academic standards for students in three co-curricular ways: (1) instruction in how to create inclusive and asset/strengths based instructional environments, (2) instruction in how to use an integrated universal design for learning (UDL) approach to their STEM instruction, and (c) implementation of designing and delivering engaging instruction that promotes critical thinking and problem solving in STEM. This project will support 50 pre-service Black teachers with emphasis on recruiting Black male teachers in the shortage areas of STEM for elementary, middle, or secondary school licensure programs.

Drs. Denise Johnson and Kimberly Pemberton shared, “This is an exciting opportunity for WSSU to train more teachers of color in North Carolina to enter the teaching profession.  We will also work with HBCUs in four other states to build a community among our teaching majors.”

Dr. Erin Lynch, Associate Provost of Scholarship, Research, and Innovation supports this project’s contribution to the campus but also to the region. “This project will train 50 Black Teachers in STEM across four states, and they are states with some of the highest densities of Black children. This will increase our national efforts to engage more children of color in STEM with highly qualified STEM teachers.”