Schumer Calls for Rochester to Become National Math-Science Teaching Center of Excellence

SCHUMER CALLS FOR ROCHESTER TO BECOME NATIONAL MATH-SCIENCE TEACHING CENTER OF EXCELLENCE

Senator Brings Leading Rochester College Presidents Together to Lay Foundation for Regional Partnership To Promote Math/Science Training, Recruit New Teachers

Schumer: Rochester Well Suited To Be National Center for Math-Science Rejuvenation

Presidents of Nazareth, RIT, U of R, St. John Fisher, SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Brockport, Hobart & William Smith, Keuka Join Schumer Today

With educational, business, government leaders all citing a decline in math and science proficiency, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today brought together president from colleges in the Rochester area to establish a national math and science teaching center of excellence in Rochester. The goal of the consortium is to recruit, train and retain outstanding math and science educators, and collaborate with local employers seeking personnel with extensive math or science training.

"Math and science education is the key to America's continued prosperity in our global economy, and Rochester can be at the center of it," Senator Schumer said. Unfortunately, more and more math and science teachers come to the profession without expertise in the subjects they teach. But Rochester is well positioned to change all this. With a number of first-rate educational schools in the area, Rochester can become a national center of excellence for math-science teaching and set a new national standard for global achievement."

The Rochester center of excellence would serve a number of functions, including: design ways for colleges to cooperate and collaborate on math/science programs; seek funding, which in many instances is more readily available for collaborative efforts; develop partnerships with local, state and national business communities; design marketing campaigns that advertise this region as the center for creative and cooperative approaches to math/science initiatives.

Going back to the opening of the Erie Canal, continuing with growth of Kodak, Xerox, and Bausch and Laumb into international technology companies, Rochester has been at the cutting edge of industry in the United States. Today, Rochester is still a major science and technology center and is well positioned to develop into a globally recognized leader in science based industry. Rochester was ranked 1st among 125 cities in the world for patent registration, according to the World Knowledge Competitiveness Index 2003-2004, and 1st for utility patents issues per 1,000 workers according to the New Economy Index. Rochester was ranked 5th for "overall innovation capacity" by the New Economy Index in 2001. Rochester was ranked 6th among metro areas for degrees granted in science and engineering. Rochester is 3rd in the nation number of college graduates with life and science degrees. Finally, Rochester's workforce was found to be the 7th most productive workforce in the entire country. The resources and opportunities Rochester area businesses position Rochester to be a leader in math and science education.

Senator Schumer said that Rochester's strength as a center for science and technology development made it a logical choice to be the nation's center for math and science education.

"Science is the future and Rochester can be the science city. When they think of math and science education they should think of Rochester."

Earlier, this month, Schumer joined with Republican Congressman Jim Saxton to introduce bipartisan Mathematics and Science Teaching Corps Act of 2006 (MSTC), which would create a federal fellowship program to recruit, train and retain outstanding math and science teachers. The program will recruit aspiring and current teachers with strong content knowledge, and will involve approximately 20% of our nation's secondary math and science teachers. MSTC is based on a successful program in New York City called the Newton Fellowship Program, which is operated by a non-profit organization called Math for America.

Schumer today was joined by Dr. Daan Braveman, President, Nazareth College; Dr. Albert Simone, President, Rochester Institute of Technology; Joel Seligman, President, University of Rochester; Dr. Donald Bain, President, St. John Fisher College; Dr. Christopher Dahl, President, SUNY Geneseo; Dr. John Halstead, President, SUNY Brockport; Mark Gearan, President, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, and Dr. Joseph Burke of Keuka College.

http://schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/press_releases/2006/PR76.Roch%20Teaching.022106.html