In partnership with the UNC and the N.C. Community College systems, WCU will place undergraduate middle grades education courses in science and mathematics online so that students can access them from anywhere in the state.

Beginning in the fall of 2008, students will be able to take the first two years of courses online through a community college and complete the remaining two years through a participating UNC institution. The program is specifically designed to increase teachers in high-need areas, including middle grades education.

“Western has had an excellent ‘face-to-face’ program in middle grades education for some time,” said David Strahan, Taft Botner Distinguished Professor in Elementary and Middle Grades Education at Western. “This new initiative will give us an opportunity to design a program that will deliver the essential elements of teacher preparation to a wider clientele in innovative ways. We hope to recruit and support a larger number of middle school teachers to serve the needs of North Carolina.”

The project is another way that Western is striving to help North Carolina deal with the teacher supply and demand issues it faces, said Michael Dougherty, dean of the College of Education and Allied Professions.

“Last year, the entire University of North Carolina system produced only 372 middle school teachers. We need many more than that,” Dougherty said. “We are going to use this opportunity to prepare more high-quality middle school teachers who can effectively teach math and science.”

For more information about the program, contact Dougherty at (828) 227-7311 or via e-mail at dougherty@email.wcu.edu.