Malone receives grant from the Ohio Department of Higher Education to encourage careers in education
Malone University has been awarded $160,000 from the Ohio Department of Higher Education to support students with an interest in careers in education.
The funding is provided in the form of the Ohio Educator Shortage Grant, which seeks to find ways to assist students on their pathway to working as teachers, counselors, and in other careers in the education field.
“Ohio has a well-documented shortage of educators,” said Jennifer Webb, chair of Malone’s education department and administrator of the Malone grant. “Funding will enable us to expand and diversify our pool of talented future educators through scholarships, as well as focused direction and support as they move through their education, licensure, and credentialing processes to be qualified to be hired in Ohio schools. It is a tremendous opportunity for these students and an example of the direct steps the State is taking to build the educator workforce.”
Funding from the grant must be spent by September 2024. Consequently, strategies which prepare candidates for licensure in two years are being prioritized.
“We have extraordinary partnerships with community colleges, including our neighbors at Stark State,” said Webb. “This funding will support students in those 2+2 pathways to careers in education. Additionally, we will work hard to move the dial with underrepresented populations in the educator workforce through our partnership with the Canton City Schools and other districts. Those students who started at Malone, but stopped short from finishing their education degree, will also benefit from this grant as we re-engage them and provide the support they need to finish.”
More than $6 million was requested by Ohio colleges and universities for the funding provided by the Ohio General Assembly.