Voices from TWU grads
Voices from TWU grads “The forward-thinking education and cutting-edge curriculum at TWU prepared me to become a leader in the classroom. TWU was affordable, the community was welcoming, and I could not find that combination elsewhere.” > DANIELLE “DANI” SANCHEZ ’20 “Going to TWU definitely opened the door for my career in special education. I went into teaching to help kids, and that’s what I did.” > MIRIAM HONIG ’89 “I’m a mom of five kids and finished my TWU degree while balancing my family responsibilities and achieving my goal to become a music teacher. The faculty took the time to get to know me. They understood my situation and made my educational experience realistic.” > NATALIE JOYNER ’19 “Despite being a working mother and driving more than 50 miles each way [to class] after work, I did very well in my courses. The master’s degree was the final piece needed.” > YVONNE HANNON THOMPSON ’96 How you can get on board Contact advancement@twu.edu 4 TEXAS WOMAN’S
QWorking for the Super Win-win What role does COPE play in the broader community? College of Professional Education students are learning how to become excellent educators and pillars of their communities. We’re working to graduate more Texas teachers for > LISA HUFFMAN, PH.D., College of Professional Education Dean COPE Dean Lisa Huffman aims to erase Texas teacher shortages and child-care deserts students ages 3-18. We’re focused on supporting our local families through education, providing access to mental health services, offering family counseling services and developing community leaders. First, we lead an early STEAMthinking camp (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) for young children that reaches across the state. We call it Digital Days Summer Camp, and it’s led by faculty from the department of Literacy and Learning and master’s students in early childhood education. They’re integrating learning, retention and focused-based coursework with STEAM applications for young children, their parents and teachers. We offer a mental-health clinic that provides our communities with affordable resources. Our Counseling and Family Therapy Clinic, a part of COPE’s Human Development, Family Studies, and Counseling department, also provides our graduate students with clinical opportunities. And we work with rural libraries across Texas to ensure equal access to print and digital information. In many rural communities, the library is the only source of reliable internet. What early-childhood education challenges are we facing as a state? As a state, we must invest in earlychildhood education, which focuses on preparing teachers for pre-kindergarten through third-grade classrooms. We have child-care deserts. We have families and parents who can’t find care. At TWU we offer a number of programs preparing the early-childhood-educator workforce for every corner of society. We offer a variety of flexible and fullyonline undergraduate and graduate degree programs. We’ve all seen the dire headlines about the K-12 teacher shortage. But what can be done? It costs a lot of money to become a teacher. There are a number of broad factors contributing to the teacher shortage, and that’s why we’re working to remove every obstacle to becoming a teacher that we can. Our students are often nontraditional, and they’re entering TWU — or maybe returning to college — to receive an education at an average age of 28. They’re typically parents; they care for their children; and they may be caring for other family members. We find that a lot of students have to step out of the program and save money for their in-classroom student teaching experience and certification exams. Student teaching is required by the state, along with mandatory certification exams, which may total thousands of dollars. My goal is to find a way to cover the costs associated with becoming a certified teacher from coursework to graduation. What is your biggest “reach” goal as dean of COPE? Going back to early-childhood education and child-care deserts, I’d like to have early learning centers on each of our campuses. We’re a woman-focused, Hispanic- Serving Institution with the most diverse student body in Texas and the fourth-most diverse student body in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report. Early learning centers would provide our students access to high-quality teaching experience in the classroom. So the children benefit, TWU students benefit and the state benefits. I call it a super win-win. TEXAS WOMAN’S 5
