Message from the Dean
September 10, 2025
The 2024-2025 academic year was very good for the College of Education (COE) at the University of Mary Washington! We had 11 COE alumni last year who were named New Teacher of the Year in their schools. This undoubtedly is a reflection of our bright students and top-notch faculty and staff.
Perhaps equally critical to the success of our work is our strong connection to practice. Teaching, learning, and the needs of students have changed dramatically in the past five years. Without highly contextualized partnerships, it is impossible to be relevant and effective in teacher preparation. COE faculty and staff work hand-in-hand with our K-12 colleagues in many mutually beneficial ways.
The Academy of Technology and Innovation at UMW (ATI-UMW), our STEM-focused lab school, is starting its second year. Their school year begins with 82 tenth graders and 87 brand new ninth graders – nearly 170 students total. As a model demonstration site for innovative, hands-on, problem-based learning, ATI-UMW is providing high-quality learning experiences for students from five local school divisions. Using a school-university partnership model akin to a teaching hospital, ATI-UMW is providing foundational research and practice opportunities for students, faculty, and staff in the COE. Through this effort and others, we aim to improve teaching and learning in our partner schools, while also improving the quality of our teacher preparation.
Our faculty and staff work throughout the regional school systems to address teacher preparations and student needs. Through our successful and growing school-university partnership (SUP) program provides new teacher support, professional development, and classroom-based coaching for inexperienced teachers. In the past year, we provided professional development support to more than 1,000 teachers! Our efforts make a positive difference in schools, and the experience informs our work in teacher preparation.
We continue to work on a number of fronts to help address the critical teacher shortage. We are in year three of our significant Noyce/National Science Foundation(NSF) grant focused on recruiting more STEM teachers. The inaugural year of our Call Me MiSTER (CMM) program is working to increase the pool of available teachers from a broader range of communities and educational backgrounds in Virginia’s K-12 teacher workforce. The success of each of these programs is contingent upon the strong partnerships with our K-12 colleagues. Working alongside our K-12 partners, the COE is working tirelessly to improve teaching and learning in public schools in the region.
Dr. Pete Kelly
Professor & Dean
College of Education
University of Mary Washington
