Rockefeller Brothers Fund names 2003 minority teaching Fellows

Hispanic Times Magazine, Fall, 2003

Twenty-five outstanding students from thirteen colleges and universities nationwide have been selected as the 2003 recipients of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Fellowships for Students of Color Entering the Teaching Profession.

With the selection of this class of Fellows, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund has, since 1992, awarded fellowships to 225 talented and dedicated college students with a commitment to public education. Previous Fellows have already benefited from the financial assistance, personal support, and professional development opportunities provided by the Fellowship program. Today, the overwhelming majority of these Fellows remain in the education field, many teaching in urban and rural school districts across the country. About one-half have been teaching five or more years.

In announcing this year's awards, the Fund's president, Stephen B. Heintz, remarked: "The members of the Fellows class of 2003 join a corps of exceptional young leaders whose work demonstrates how teachers of color of the highest caliber can enrich and strengthen our public school system and enable it to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student population more effectively."

Fellows will each receive up to $22,100 over a five-year period that begins after their junior year of college and ends when they have completed three years of public school teaching. During the summer following their junior year. Fellows receive grants of $2,500 to undertake special projects related to teaching. Upon graduation from college, grants of $12,000 to $16,000 are available for full-time graduate work in education. Fellows who incur debt in financing their graduate education are entitled to loan repayment assistance of up to $1,200 annually for each of the first three years they teach in public schools.

Candidates for the fellowship are drawn from 28 colleges and universities that have demonstrated a commitment to the education of students of color and to the improvement of teaching in America's public schools. Interested students majoring in the arts and sciences apply during their junior year. Each applicant must identify a "mentor"--a member of the faculty or staff who is willing to oversee the Fellow's summer project and provide guidance and advice during senior year, especially in the selection of a graduate education program.

Each participating institution can nominate up to three students annually. A committee of education professionals, including former Fellows, master teachers, school administrators, and faculty from graduate teacher training programs, interviews finalists. Fellows are selected on the basis of their potential to become exceptional teachers, as evidenced by high academic performance, strong written and oral communications skills, and a deep commitment to education and public service.

The Fellowship program is a core component of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund's Charles E. Culpeper Human Advancement program area. Additional information is available on the Fund's website, www.rbf.org. The primary goal of the program is to increase the number of teachers of color in American public education. The program is also intended to:

* call more attention to public school teaching as a fulfilling career choice on liberal arts campuses across the country;

* provide public schools that are most in need of excellent teachers of color with new talent; and

* retain teachers of color in the profession and help them develop into a leadership corps that will be an agent for positive change in the schools over the long term.

The members of the
2003 Class of RBF Fellows are:

Danielle Alvarado     Southwest Texas State Univ.
Migdalia Arciniegas   Wellesley College
Jessica Cain          Wellesley College
Cecelia Diaz          Univ. of Calif., Riverside
Rabiah Harris         Howard University
Nicole Hughes         Spelman College
Salema Jenkins        Wellesley College
Pei Pei Liu           Swarthmore College
Roxane Lopez          Southwest Texas State Univ.
Maya Martin           Univ. of Pennsylvania
Diamond Moore         Pomona College
Arpita Parikh         Swarthmore College
Anny Pena             Pace University
Juan Perez            Univ. of St. Thomas
Emilene Rodriguez     Pace University
Vanessa Ruiz          Mt. St. Mary's College
Luis Saenz            Univ. of St. Thomas
Miriam Salgado        Mt. St. Mary's College
Katrina Sapeg         Pace University
Rajaa Shakir          Swarthmoore College
Simona Simpson        Howard University
Emily Steele          Pomona College
Marci Woods           Duke University
Linda Yeh             Brown University
Jaclyn Zapanta        Mt. St. Mary's College