MURFREESBORO — MTSU’s
Department of Physics and Astronomy has become a member of an exclusive club.
MTSU is one of 12 universities named to The 5+ Club by the
Physics Teacher Education Coalition, or PhysTEC, a joint project of the
American Physical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers.
The inaugural PhysTEC designation recognizes a group of
institutions that have graduated five or more physics teachers in a given year.
MTSU was in a group of six schools that graduated five
students. Brigham Young University topped the list with 17 graduating physics
teachers. Illinois State University followed with 10.
Physics and astronomy chair Ron Henderson said the department
“started a concerted effort
to improve our teacher education program in 2008.”
“Some
courses were redesigned, three new physics teaching classes were added, and we
won a National Science Foundation grant to fund scholarships for future
teachers,” he added. “The end result is that we have graduated more than 10
highly qualified physics teachers since 2011.”
Monica
Plisch, PhysTEC director, presented Henderson with The 5+ Club certificate
during the organization’s national meeting March 12 in Baltimore, Maryland.
“Middle Tennessee
State University is a national leader in physics teacher education, and we have
invited PhysTEC site leader Ron Henderson to give presentations at national
meetings” Plisch said. “We need more universities to follow the lead of MTSU to
address the severe shortage of high school physics teachers.”
In an email to
university President Sidney A. McPhee, Plisch said she was “happy to
congratulate Middle Tennessee State University on its outstanding contributions
to the education of future physics teachers.”
Plisch told
McPhee the great majority of institutions graduate less than two physics
teachers a year and the most common number of graduates is zero.
“Graduating five
or more physics teachers a year is a significant achievement,” she said.
In a letter to
McPhee, co-written by Homer Neal, American Physical Society president from the
University of Michigan, and Janelle Bailey, American Association of
Physics Teachers from Temple University, they congratulated MTSU “for its
excellence in physics teacher education and for serving as a national model for
STEM teacher preparation.”
STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering and
mathematics.
To learn more about the physics program, which is a part of
the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, visit http://www.mtsu.edu/programs/physics/
or call 615-898-2130.
The dandy dozen
PhysTEC 5+ Club
Institution (number
of physics teacher graduates in a given year)
• Brigham Young University (17)
• Illinois State University (10)
• Stony Brook University (8)
• Arizona State University (6)
• Boston University (6)
• University of Central Florida (6)
• Middle Tennessee State University (5)
• Rowan University (5)
• Towson University (5)
• University of Arkansas (5)
• West Chester University (5)
• Western Michigan University (5)
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