Lowe’s Grove Teacher Named SECME Master Teacher
Jamila Bowser, teacher at Lowe’s Grove Middle School, is one of eight teachers from around the country who has been named a Master Teacher Mentor for SECME, a national nonprofit formerly the Southeastern Consortium of Minorities in Engineering.
Because of her contributions, Bowser has been asked to accept additional responsibilities by serving on the SECME National Advisory Council and as a SECME Master Teacher Mentor during 2010-2011. She is one of eight SECME Master Teachers tapped for a pilot program to expand the role of the SECME Master Teacher beyond the Summer Institute as a Professional Learning Community Mentor. In March, this group of SECME Master Teacher Mentors, who are specialists in their disciplines, received mentoring training from a nationally recognized expert, Deborah Covin-Wilson, Director of Career Development for The Georgia Institute of Technology’s Office of Organizational Development. The focus of the pilot program is to enhance K-12 teaching and learning by providing SECME Summer Institute participant educators with post-Institute follow-up using trained SECME Master Teacher Mentors to assure personalized support.
This year the 34th Annual SECME Summer Institute will be hosted by Clemson University, South Carolina, June 23-July 1. This intense eight-day residential professional development opportunity, presented by member university faculty, partner industry experts, and SECME Master Teachers, provides educators with curriculum activities aligned to National Standards, cutting-edge content knowledge, and a framework for implementing a SECME program.
SECME was founded in 1975 by the Engineering Deans from seven Southeastern universities: Alabama, Florida, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Tennessee, Tennessee State, and Tuskegee. Today SECME is a non-profit alliance that extends to 40 school systems, 39 major engineering universities, and industries and agencies in 15 states, the District of Columbia, and Grand Bahamas. SECME's mission is to increase the pool of historically under-represented and under-served students who will be prepared to enter and complete post-secondary studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), thus creating a diverse and globally competitive workforce. SECME provides teacher professional development and coordinates student competitions across the country.
