The Agency of Education has announced that Vermont has been selected to participate in a project called the ‘STEM Equity Pipeline.’ The purpose of the project is to develop strategies to increase female student participation and completion in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) related programs offered in the regional career technical education (CTE) centers through root cause analysis, action planning and professional development.’
‘Increasing opportunities in STEM fields for girls is important,’ said Secretary of Education Armando Vilaseca. ‘Ensuring that our female students are exposed to non-traditional career fields is a high priority for the Agency and our schools. This project will help CTE centers to create programs that will encourage girls and address the gender gap.’’
The Agency’s Career Technical Education (CTE) workgroup is coordinating efforts related to the two year project and has assembled a state leadership team, representing a cross-section of state government entities, gender equity experts, secondary, post-secondary, not-for-profit, and business and industry partners. The purpose of the state leadership team is to develop a state plan to address gender equity in STEM in Vermont. See below for a listing of leadership team members.’
The STEM Equity Pipeline state leadership team recently released a pilot site application to the regional career technical education centers. The pilot sites and their regional education partners will receive professional development, technical assistance, and access to a national network through The National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE).’
The Agency is pleased to announce that the following regional CTE centers have been selected as pilot sites for the project:’
CTE Center’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Location’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Director
Barre Technical Center’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Barre ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Penny Chamberlin
Center for Technology, Essex’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Essex Junction’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Bob Travers
North Country Career Center’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Newport’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Eileen Illuzzi
Patricia A. Hannaford Career Center’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Middlebury’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ D. Lynn Coale
"The STEM Equity Pipeline Project is another avenue for our career centers to develop offerings that are flexible and responsive," said Deputy Commissioner Fischer. "The goal of the project is for career centers to implement innovative research-based strategies that encourage female students to pursue pathways they might not have otherwise considered."’
The Agency will be providing $2,000 grants to each pilot site and is currently seeking private sector partners to provide a matching grant. ‘It’s critical to the success of this project that we establish partnerships with business and industry,’ said Jay Ramsey, CTE Workgroup Coordinator. ‘The beginning of these partnerships is demonstrated in the structure of the State Leadership Team.’’
‘ ‘ ‘ STEM Equity Pipeline State Leadership Team’
Name
Title
Organization
Jay Ramsey
CTE Workgroup Coordinator
Agency of Education
Doug Webster
CTE Program Consultant
Agency of Education
Peter Drescher
Educational Technology Consultant
Agency of Education
Rachel Gitajn
Design Engineer
Burton Snowboards
Carrie Dickinson
Assistant Director
Center for Technology, Essex
Lynn Vera
Guidance Coordinator
Center for Technology, Essex
Darlene Murphy
Associate Academic Dean
Community College of Vermont
Mat Barewicz
Labor Market Information Chief
Department of Labor
Eileen Illuzzi
Director
North Country Career Center, Newport
Ruth Durkee
Adult Education Coordinator
Randolph Technical Career Center
Lyle Jepson
Director
Stafford Technical Center, Rutland
Cary Brown
Executive Director
State of Vermont, Commission on Women
Kathy Johnson
Principal
Vermont Equity Training & Consulting
Rosemary Distell
Associate Academic Dean
Vermont Technical College
Mary Ann Sjoblom
Software Engineer
Vermont Works for Women
Kelly Walsh
Girls Program Director
Vermont Works for Women
Learn more about NAPE here: http://www.napequity.org
Learn more about the STEM Equity Pipeline here: http://bit.ly/15dbSCH
The project is managed by the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) and is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Human Resources Development, Research on Gender in Science and Engineering Program.’