Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program

In order to engage freshman and sophomore students, the College of Education’s Center for STEM Education will facilitate interested freshman and sophomore students in internships during the academic and summer semesters. Students may complete their internship in one or multiple settings.

Internships will be 40 hours over the course of 1 academic year (equivalent of 4 hours a month). Students can choose to fulfill this requirement in one semester or across the whole year. Students must commit to working at one site for a least a semester. The following sites are examples of places where you can intern:

1. Tutoring at the Boys and Girls Club, Statesboro Regional Library, or other community venue.
2. Working with the Georgia Power Education Coordinator
3. Tutoring at after school programs
4. Working with other campus-based organizations, like the Botanic Garden, to assist with summer camps and school visits.

We are excited you have thought about teaching as a profession and welcome you to apply to our scholarship program. We know that your final years in college can be fast-paced and filled with opportunities for research and projects. In order to participate fully in the Georgia Southern Robert Noyce Scholarship Program, you will complete the following academic plan which will help you meet the requirements of both your STEM and education degree programs.

Junior Year (Scholar Year 1)

Ready Phase: Provide a comprehensive introduction to the attributes of being a successful mathematics/science teacher in diverse, high-needs school settings.

Required Courses/Scholar Activities:

• Continue to enroll in content courses.
• Complete a year-long colloquium consisting of six, 90-minute meetings each semester
• Apply to become STEM Ambassadors with the Center for STEM Education. Ambassadors are assistants for outreach programming and will be required to complete one outreach activity per semester. Activities could include: attending a STEM Night, assisting with Science Olympiad and Science Bowl, or helping with the development of classroom activities.
• Attend both state disciplinary conferences (Georgia Council for Teachers of Mathematics and Georgia Science Teacher’s Association) where they will participate in session presentations and begin to develop their network of professional contacts.

Summer Programming

• Attend a one-week summer internship with state biologists, researchers, at the Georgia Southern Botanic Gardens focused on leveraging local resources to promote problem-based learning.
• Attend Noyce regional/national conferences where they will participate in session presentations and begin to develop their network of professional contacts.

Senior Year (Scholar Year 2)

Set Phase: Further student’s conceptual understanding of the attributes of a successful secondary mathematics/science teacher including: content, students, and pedagogical instruction techniques.

Required Courses/Scholar Activities:

• Enroll in upper-division content courses, elective courses (as needed) and education courses.
• Complete a year-long colloquium consisting of six, 90-minute meetings each semester.
• Complete one STEM Ambassador activity per semester and co-lead a professional development activity at their spring field placement.
• Attend both state disciplinary conferences and co-present with project faculty.

Summer Programming

• Participate in a one-week summer internship developed in conjunction with the University of Georgia Marine Extension Program and Georgia Sea Grant focused on leveraging coastal Georgia resources to promote problem-based learning.
• Attend Noyce regional/national conferences where they will participate in session presentations and begin to develop their network of professional contacts.

5th Year (Scholar Year 3)

Go Phase: bridge scholar learning in Year 1 & 2 with their clinical experience and coursework.

Required Courses/Scholar Activities:

• Enroll in education courses and COE/COSM seminar course (Spring semester).
• Complete a full-time clinical practice experience in the Spring in Savannah-Chatham County or Evans County Public Schools.
• Participate in a year–long colloquium consisting of six, 90-minute meetings each semester.
• Complete one STEM Ambassador activity and co-lead a professional development activity at their clinical practice placement.
• Attend both state disciplinary conferences and co-present with project faculty and/or regional/national Noyce conferences.

During your first six years of teaching, you will be honing your craft, figuring out classroom management, and learning to navigate the classroom, school, and district. The Noyce program is committed to helping you succeed and therefore offers post-graduation coaching and development plans.

Induction Year 1:

• Develop and implement collaborative coaching plans.
• Engage in six community of practice virtual meetings.
• Participate in one on one meetings with Noyce program directors to discuss any concerns and help locate resources.

Induction Years 2-3:

• Develop and implement collaborative coaching plans.
• Engage in six community of practice virtual meetings.
• Participate in one on one meetings with Noyce program directors to discuss any concerns and help locate resources.
• Mentor subsequent Noyce Scholar Cohorts.

Induction Years 4-6:

• Engage in one virtual meeting per semester.
• Mentor subsequent Noyce Scholar Cohorts.

• Recipients of GS Robert Noyce scholarships must be US citizens, nationals, or permanent resident aliens.
• Applicants must be in process of pursuing a baccalaureate degree in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, mathematics, or physics.
• The GS Noyce Program offers up to $12,500 each academic year for eligible recipients.

A downloadable application can be found here.

Reference letters can be submitted through the reference link or directly to the Program at noyce@georgiasouthern.edu

If your financial aid plus the Noyce scholarship exceeds the total cost of attendance, then your total aid award will be reduced only by the amount that exceeds the cost of attendance.

To qualify as a High-Need School District, the school district must have at least one school that:

• Serves at least 20% students from low-income families;
• Serves at least 10,000 students from low-income families; OR
• Qualifies for funding under the Small, Rural School Achievement Program or the Rural and Low-Income School Program

AND

• Has at least 34% of teachers not teaching in the academic subject area or grade level for which they were trained to teach;
• Has a teacher attrition rate of at least 15% over the last three school years; OR
• Has at least 34% of teachers teaching with emergency, provisional, or temporary certification/licensure

There are several webpages to help you locate high-needs schools districts. Since these change frequently, Noyce mentors will work with you to help you determine which districts/schools qualify when you are ready to apply.

The Noyce Team does not place Noyce Scholars for full time employment.

Failure to satisfy the academic requirements of the program or to complete the service requirement will result in the recipient’s forfeiture of the scholarship award with repayments pro-rated accordingly to reflect partial service completed. The formula used to calculate the repayment will be, A = F[(2-s)/2] where “A” is the amount Georgia Southern is entitled to recover; “F” is the sum of the total amount paid to the recipient; “2” is the number of years of service obligation; and “s” is the number of years or fraction of years of such obligation served.

Except as noted below in “Conditions for Waiver and Cancellation” any amount that Georgia Southern is entitled to recover is due within 30 days of the date on which Georgia Southern is entitled to recover such amount. After such time, interest will accrue on the outstanding obligation.

Georgia Southern may waive the repayment obligation, in whole or in part, if it is determined that fulfillment of the service obligation

(1) would be impossible due to a disability of the recipient,
(2) would result in extreme hardship to the recipient, or
(3) is determined to not be in the best interest of the school district.

The recipient must initiate requests for waivers of repayment obligations with a certified letter detailing the reasons why a waiver should be given. Additional documentation may be requested. Decisions on waivers of repayment obligations will require a majority vote by the Principal Investigators of the Noyce grant and the recipient’s faculty advisor(s) during the student teaching and/or induction year of teaching. The Principal Investigator of the grant, or a designee, will respond in writing to requests for waivers by certified mail within 14 days of a request for waiver of repayment obligation.

• Georgia Southern will cancel any repayment obligation in the event of the death of the recipient.

Recipients must commit to serving at least two years for each year of scholarship acceptance as a mathematics or science teacher in a high needs school upon receiving certification.

If the school is part of a Local Education Agency (LEA) or religious jurisdiction, such as a diocese, that functions as an LEA, it can satisfy the Noyce high-need requirement as long as the LEA meets the two criteria of the high-need LEA requirement as defined in section 201 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1021). A high-need LEA does not have to be a public school system.

Robert Norton Noyce (December 12, 1927 – June 3, 1990), nicknamed “the Mayor of Silicon Valley”, was an American physicist and entrepreneur who co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 and Intel Corporation in 1968. He is also credited with the realization of the first monolithic integrated circuit or microchip, which fueled the personal computer revolution and gave Silicon Valley its name.

If you have any further questions, please email noyce@georgiasouthern.edu.