Emma Eccles Jones Teach for Utah

It is a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that has been awarded to the University of Utah to provide a financial assistance and programmatic support to talented undergraduate students majoring in a the combined BS/MEd pathway. The grant seeks to increase the number of high school teachers with strong science content knowledge to teach in high-need school districts.

Robert Noyce was the co-inventor of the integrated circuit and went on to oversee the development of the very first microprocessors at a company he co-founded called Intel. Robert Noyce died in 1990, but his legacy lives on. The Robert Noyce Teaching Scholarship Program is an act of Congress originally authorized in 2002 and subsequently reauthorized in 2007 and 2010. The goal of the scholarship is to meet the critical need for K-12 teachers of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics by encouraging talented STEM students and professionals to pursue teaching careers in elementary and secondary schools.

The Noyce application is reviewed on a rolling basis. If you have questions about the review process, please contact Elaina Lanier at elaina.lanier@utah.edu.

The application process addresses a student’s interest in teaching secondary education in a STEM area (biology, chemistry, physics, or earth science) within a high-needs school. Applicants are asked to share information in an essay about their educational experiences and what they hope to achieve as a University of Utah Noyce Scholar. Applicants will be ranked based on their essay and letters of recommendation by members of the Leadership Team. Scholars will be chosen by their combined score of their essay, academic review and teaching potential.

Noyce Scholars must be committed to participating in all Noyce Scholar courses, research projects, seminars, workshops, and other opportunities with a team of Noyce Scholars and faculty as presented upon admission into the Noyce Scholar cohort. This includes: 

• Be enrolled in a Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science combined BS/MEd pathway
• Maintain a cumulative 3.0 GPA. If a scholar fails to achieve a 3.) GPA, they will be placed on probation for one semester. Failure to achieve a 3.0 GPA after the probationary semester may result in loss of scholarship funds. 
• Make satisfactory progress toward degree and licensure as determined by program personnel.
• Participate in monthly cohort seminars, summer workshops, mentor meetings, and other TFU events (75% attendance is required, typically 4-5 meetings per semester) 
• Participate in all evaluation activities
• Pass a State of Utah background check

In addition, upon graduation, Noyce Scholars will fulfill two years of full-time employment in a high-needs school district for every one year of Noyce funding received. Since the scholarship supports students for up to three years, this means a maximum commitment of six years in teaching. Scholars have eight years to fulfill the commitment. If the teaching requirement is unmet, participants will be required to repay the amount of NSF Noyce Support received plus any applicable interest.

No, Noyce recipients are eligible to find teaching placements anywhere in the U.S.

The term “high-need local educational agency (or high-need LEA)”, as defined in section 201 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1021), means a U.S. local educational agency (e.g., school district) that has at least one school that meets at least one of the following criteria:

• not less than 20% of the children served by the agency are from low-income families
• serves at least 10,000 children from low-income families
• is eligible for funding under the Small, Rural School Achievement Program under 20 U.S.C. 7345(b) or is eligible for funding under the Rural and Low-Income School Program under 20 U.S.C. 7351(b)

meets at least one of the following criteria:

• has a high percentage of teachers not teaching in the academic subject areas or grade levels in which the teachers were trained to teach; or has a high teacher turnover rate or a high percentage of teachers with emergency, provisional, or temporary certification or licensure.

Upon acceptance of the NSF Noyce and Teach for Utah awards, scholars sign a promissory note committing to teach in high-need school districts for two years for every year of NSF Noyce funding, or a school in Utah for two years for every year of Teach for Utah funding. Scholars have eight years to fulfill their commitment. The University of Utah will monitor employment and if the teaching requirement is unmet, the scholarship will default into a loan, and repayment of scholarship funds will occur.