CCCU News
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As part of Christian Higher Education Month, the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) announced today that 98 recent graduates from CCCU institutions joined Teach For America’s 2009 teacher corps, more than double the number who joined in 2008. The increase stems from a strategic partnership launched last year by Teach For America and the CCCU to help recruit even more outstanding seniors who are eager to have an immediate impact on the academic achievement gap that exists between children growing up in low-income communities and their peers in higher-income neighborhoods.
”Teach For America is pleased to see more young people joining the fight to eliminate education inequity,” said Nicole Baker Fulgham, vice president of Teach For America’s faith community relations initiative. “Students at CCCU schools exemplify a commit to social justice that is, in part, motivated by their faith tradition. Those who join Teach For America are working alongside thousands of other dedicated teachers to ensure that their students have access to the high-quality education they deserve.”
Teach For America recruits graduating seniors and professionals from all academic majors and backgrounds to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in the pursuit of educational equity.
“As Teach For America selects our country’s most promising young people, it’s a delight to know that CCCU institutions are producing corps members at this amazing rate. A wonderful synergy exists between our two organizations—we work to create educational environments that empower our students to be salt and light in the world, and Teach For America is working to close the education gap for low-income communities by enlisting tomorrow's future leaders,” said Mimi Barnard, Ph.D., vice president for professional development & research.
Wendy Kopp, Teach For America’s founder and CEO, proposed the organization as part of her senior thesis at Princeton University. By the age of 21, Kopp had raised $2.5 million in start-up funding, hired a skeleton staff, and launched a grass-roots recruitment campaign. In1990, Teach For America’s first year of operation, 500 men and women began teaching in six low-income communities across the country. Today, there are more than 7,000 Teach For America corps members teaching in 35 urban and rural regions in the United States.
Wendy Kopp will be a plenary speaker at the 2010 International Forum on Christian Higher Education, set for February 24-26, 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information about the Forum, go to www.cccu.org/forum2010.
For media inquiries and interviews, please contact Mike Plunkett at mplunkett@cccu.org or 202-546-8713.
Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in expanding educational opportunity. Today, 7,300 corps members are teaching in 35 regions across the country while 17,000 Teach For America alumni continue working from inside and outside the field of education for the fundamental changes necessary to ensure educational excellence and equity. For more information, visit www.teachforamerica.org.
The Council for Christian Colleges & Universities is a higher education association of 180 intentionally Christ-centered institutions around the world. There are now 111 member campuses in North America and all are fully-accredited, comprehensive colleges and universities with curricula rooted in the arts and sciences. In addition, 69 affiliate campuses from 24 countries are part of the CCCU. The Council’s mission is to advance the cause of Christ-centered higher education and to help its institutions transform lives by faithfully relating scholarship and service to biblical truth.
-30-
