TCU’s College of Education announces multi-million dollar gift for the Andrews Institute of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education

Fort Worth, TX

5/22/2008

The Institute of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education in TCU’s College of Education announced that it has received a $5 million endowment gift from Paul and Judy Andrews. This gift will further the work of the Institute which is to help address national problems in mathematics and science education in K-12 schools and improve the preparation of teachers in those areas. In recognition of the gift, the Institute will be renamed the Andrews Institute of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education.

"This University plays a vital role in our community and we are proud to support this important program at TCU," said Paul and Judy Andrews. "We also want to honor our good friend John Roach who has supported TCU in countless ways for many years."

The Andrews Institute was established as a collaborative venture between the College of Education and the College of Science & Engineering at TCU in 1999. Its mission is to provide an environment for innovation and change in mathematics, science and technology education through creative research and teaching by faculty and students at TCU.

The endowment will provide scholarships for mathematics and science education majors and further the outreach of the programs of the Andrews Institute. The largest portion of the gift will be used for scholarships in doctoral, master’s and baccalaureate areas. This will help to recruit more college students studying science and mathematics education. These teachers will help fill the need for qualified and enthusiastic K-12 science and mathematics teachers. They will provide leadership at the school, district, and state levels as lead teachers, department chairs, program coordinators, and supervisors. They also fill college faculty positions where they teach science and mathematics education courses.

Doctoral students in particular are critical to the success of the Andrews Institute because they provide faculty for outreach programs for children and teachers in surrounding school districts. These outreach programs include teacher forums for collaborative exchange, professional development workshops, summer institutes and a program designed for accelerated or at-risk K-12 students to work with scientists, mathematicians, and educators at TCU. The outreach programs allow the Andrews Institute to work toward reversing the shortage of both mathematics and science educators around the country and increasing the interest of K-12 students in mathematics and science.

“We are fortunate to have the support of Paul and Judy Andrews as we continue to improve science and mathematics education through outreach and research,” said Dr. Molly Weinburgh, Director of the Andrews Institute for Mathematics, Science & Technology Education. “The Institute has almost a decade of exciting research and outreach to K-12 students and teacher. This generous gift will allow us to enlarge these programs as well as extend our ability to educate the next generation of teachers. More importantly, it will impact generations of students and teachers through the research generated by faculty and graduate students who work in the Andrews Institute.”

In addition to rewarding academic achievement by students, the Andrews Institute will also use the gift to reward faculty research accomplishments by providing research grants. Faculty from the Colleges of Education and Science & Engineering can submit research grants to the Andrews Institute if the research includes K-12 students or teachers.

Over the past nine years the newly named Andrews Institute has prepared over 600 mathematics and science teachers for the K–12 level who have graduated from the College of Education at TCU, offered professional development opportunities attended by over 2000 teachers from 21 public and 19 private schools and provided learning experiences for over 2000 K–12 students. Paul and Judy Andrews believe in the existing need to address problems in mathematics and science education. This endowed gift will impact many people for years to come. For more information on the Andrews Institute, visit www.mst.tcu.edu.

The Andrews have also recently donated to the Honors Program and the Mary Burnett Couts Library.