University of California, BerkeleyGSE Home



    
how to apply faculty news events
programs courses research administration resources

prospective students
alumni & visitors
current students
faculty & visitors
 

Development and External Relations


GSE Fundraising Priorities


Student Support—The Dean's and Faculty's
Top Fundraising Priority

In response to high demand, the School has dramatically expanded its commitment to teacher and administrator preparation, conferring Master's or Doctorate Degrees and credentials to approximately 60 teachers and 65 administrators annually. Fellowship support provides financial assistance to these highly qualified aspiring educators, who are committed to making a difference in the most challenging educational settings. Along with teacher and administrator preparation, the School is expanding its commitments to school-based research, helping to ensure a basis of solid theory and academic discipline as the nation and the state work toward improving the effectiveness of our schools.

Since most GSE students cannot anticipate high salaries after graduation (and are reluctant to incur debt from student loans), the availability of fellowship support is often a deciding factor in choosing a graduate program. A difference of as little as $2,000 in competing offers is often enough to compel a student to choose another school.

We want to continue attracting the best qualified students to the GSE, regardless of their financial circumstances.

Annual Scholarships

Golden Bear Education Scholarships for aspiring teachers can be named for annual gifts of $1,000 or more. Donors meet recipients at an annual Scholarship Tea.

Endowed Fellowships

The Dean is especially eager to be able to offer multi-year funding packages to two to five top Ph.D. students each year. Endowed fellowship funds are essential to meeting this goal.

The Power Challenge (made possible by a generous bequest from William V. Power '30) is available to donors pledging $50,000 or more for endowed fellowships. The Power Challenge provides annual matching support over the pledge payment period, so that fellowship recipients can begin receiving their awards immediately. The contribution from the Power Challenge decreases until the pledge is paid and the endowment is fully funded and generating income to cover the annual award.

Scholarship award recipients with some of the donors at the 2004-05 Tea

Williams and Fillmore
Dawn Williams, first recipient of the Lily Wong Fillmore Fellowship with Professor Emerita Wong Fillmore


Faculty Support

Faculty support, including Endowed Chairs and Distinguished Professorships, provides research funding for scholars working on some of society's most critical problems. From the teaching of math, science, and reading to learners from diverse backgrounds to grappling with issues of school reform and finance, GSE faculty are at the forefront of educational research, policy, and practice. To meet the growing demand for research-based school reform and highly qualified education personnel in California and throughout the U.S., the GSE must be able to continue to attract and retain world-class faculty.

Outreach and Special Initiatives—Supporting Learning and Education Practice in the Community

The Early Childhood Education Center is scheduled to open in January, 2007 to serve pre-school age children of UC Berkeley students, faculty, and staff. In response to the growing need statewide, Berkeley faculty will develop training programs for early childhood educators, as well as research initiatives in early childhood education, psychology, social work, and public health, all housed in the new center. Scholarship support for low-income children will also be needed.

Academic Talent Development Program (ATDP) is a summer and after-school program that provides motivated K-12 students from throughout the Bay Area with unparalleled opportunities for productive learning. Through carefully thought-out, challenging courses, ATDP helps young students to think critically and to rise rapidly through levels of study. Courses are taught by outstanding instructors drawn from UC Berkeley, as well as from local public and private schools.

Reading club children
Students in the Magic Carpet Reading and Math Club in the West Contra Costa County School District


Early College Academy is a Bill and Melinda Gates funded initiative dedicated to preparing East Bay students who are the first in their families to attend college. Located in Oakland (at the former Golden Gate School) the school opened in September 2005 with 120 students in sixth and seventh grade. Operated by Aspire Public Schools, the state's leading not-for-profit charter school operator, the school brings to bear the teaching and research leadership of Berkeley's faculty from the GSE and across the campus.

Classroom
A lesson at the Early College Academy

Project IMPACT (Inquiry Making Progress Across Communities of Teachers) supports beginning teachers in challenging urban school environments. In the fourth year of this program, school-based teacher clusters meet regularly with a master teacher, Ph.D. student, or post-doc to identify problems and design research-based solutions. The novice teachers support each other professionally, intellectually, and emotionally, increasing the chances that they will develop professional networks and ultimately stay in the field.

Arts Education Initiative (AEI) aims to incorporate the visual and performing arts throughout K-12 education by involving teachers, principals, superintendents, artists, community arts organizations, and universities in developing art infused curriculum for teacher preparation programs. From student recruitment to professional coursework to internships, and finally to professional practice, the GSE is working with four other Bay Area teacher credentialing programs to create an arts education model for replication statewide.

Leadership Support Program (LSP) supports beginning principals and administrators in challenging urban schools. Undertaken in collaboration with the districts in which the new administrators are hired, LSP provides the intensive one-on-one mentoring and support that are essential to the development of effective leadership in schools and districts. Apart from the constraints of formal supervision and staff meetings, LSP provides novice administrators with a supportive forum for problem-solving.

Joint Doctoral Program in Leadership for Educational Equity (JDP) is designed to prepare outstanding educational leaders who will create transformational change and promote equity and scholastic achievement in the 252 school districts located in the Metropolitan Bay Area. UC Berkeley is collaborating with California State University East Bay, San Francisco State University, and San Jose State University to offer this intensive three-year EdD program for working professionals. http://gse.berkeley.edu/program/jdel/

JDP students
Students in discussion during a class for the Joint Doctoral Program in Leadership for Educational Equity

Dale Tillery Institute for Community College Leadership and Innovation, named for the late GSE dean and author of the California Master Plan for Higher Education, will bring together teams from California community colleges to interact with UC Berkeley and other leading faculty and develop concrete plans for institutional change. The second annual Tillery Institute is scheduled for July 31–August 2, 2006, at the Faculty Club at UC Berkeley.

Pearsons with Corazza Valeau and Cross White, Beam, and Grubb
From left, Mary Alyce Pearson, Jerry Corazza, and Dean David Pearson at the 2005 Dale Tillery Institute Hartnell College President Edward Valeau and Professor Emerita K. Patricia Cross Maine College President Fran White, Linda Beam, and Professor W. Norton Grubb