points of pride
The MTL program has received approval from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) for our Illinois State Superintendent of Education program for teacher leadership endorsement.
At the State Teacher Certification Board meeting on September 5, 2008, the board reviewed the application and approved the program. MTL graduates within the state of Illinois may now apply to have the Teacher Leadership endorsement placed on their teaching certificate.
Correspondence from MTL graduate
Dear Chancellor Ringeisen,
As a new alum of UIS (MA in the MTL/EDL program), I wanted to extend my thanks to you and the UIS faculty and staff for providing an exceptional experience. With this degree, I am perhaps in a rare group of people who are alumni of all 3 University of Illinois campuses (I also attended UIUC many years ago, followed by attendance and graduation from UIC in a graduate program that I now head). In between the UIC and UIS years are many years of teaching (at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and UIC), heading my own business full-time for 15 years in biomedical visualization, and now focusing more on research in collaboration with other great universities like Stanford, UCSF, and private businesses. What UIS have given me are not only solid guidance in leading a premier educational program (we are one of only four accredited programs in the US and considered the top by many), but the graduate program helped me explore other areas of education that I hope to address relating to wellness and better methods of providing childhood health education to address the epidemic obesity, diabetes, and heart disease issues in America.
The UIS faculty are tremendous, and the online program made this a reality for me (I would not have been able to attend face to face classes because of my schedule). I shall pass along this wonderful experience at UIS to others, and perhaps someday we can collaborate on innovative projects that could help the people of Illinois, the country, and the world.
Best to you and the UIS community.
Sincerely,
Scott
Current MTL student, Jameelah Abdallah, recently had two articles published in Academic Leadership, the Online Journal.
Both of the articles were portions of projects completed within her MTL coursework. The articles are title: Lowering Teacher Attrition Rates through Collegiality and Benefits of Co-Teaching for ESL Classrooms.
Jameelah credits the MTL program for her publishing success.
"Thanks again for all your help and support. I know I would never have had these articles published if I weren't a student in the MTL program. I feel very encouraged and hope to have more published in the future."
(email communication with MTL Coordinator).
Her articles can be reviewed online. Congratulations to Jameelah! The MTL program is VERY proud of your accomplishments!
MTL Graduate, Nick Coddington, was recently featured in the UIS Alumni Magazine:
"Coddington credits the University of Illinois at Springfield's online teacher leadership program with his success as a teacher by teaching him 'how to be assertive and handle myself in the classroom,' he said."
