Maryville College approved to award master’s degree in teaching
Sept. 29, 2021
Next May, Maryville College will welcome its first graduate students to campus in the institution’s modern history.
President Bryan F. Coker announced yesterday that the College has been approved by its accrediting body and the Tennessee Department of Education to offer a master of arts in teaching (M.A.T.) degree with an emphasis in secondary STEM.
“This is a historic moment in the life of the College, and we could not be more pleased or proud of this strategic step,” he wrote in a memo delivered to students, faculty and staff.
Graduate programming, “consistent with the College’s mission and interests,” is an initiative included in MC’s current strategic plan, “Accelerating Change: Reaffirmation and Reinvention,” which guides the College into 2023. While the College offered theological degrees and master’s degrees at its founding in 1819, it has awarded only bachelor’s degrees for most of its history.
The new M.A.T. program builds on the College’s strengths in the sciences and mathematics and its excellent reputation for education preparation. In the memo, Coker added that offering a degree focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), also aligns with the College’s desire to be “of and for the region.”
“With the Great Smoky Mountains, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Tennessee Valley Corridor all nearby, this region is an opportune place for STEM education,” he stated in the memo. “Our program will send highly qualified teachers into middle and high schools to inspire and prepare more students to pursue these fields, all of which are so crucial to our region’s economic and environmental health.”
Helping with a teacher shortage
In the new program, graduates will earn, depending on their area of focus, an M.A.T. in one of three licensure areas: an M.A.T. in Secondary Biology, an M.A.T. in Secondary Chemistry or an M.A.T. in Secondary Mathematics. They will be prepared to teach in grades 6-12, where schools currently are seeing a shortage of applications from qualified STEM teachers.
The deadline to apply for May 2022 enrollment is Jan. 15. Requirements for admission include already having a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field or nearing completion of a four-year degree in a STEM field. The program is not intended for people who have teaching degrees or licensure. It is well suited for working professionals who are interested in teaching as a new career, Coker said.
Program is accelerated
According to Dr. Cynthia Gardner, associate professor of education and director of teacher education, the College’s M.A.T. degree program has several advantages.
“First, it’s an accelerated program, allowing students to finish in just one year,” she said. “Also, our small cohort model gives students a supportive group that enters and remains in the program together.”
All courses will be offered as hybrid asynchronous or online, and candidates will complete a full year of full-time student teaching. Gardner noted that it would be difficult for students enrolled in the program to work and complete the student teaching; however, the program does include a job-embedded pathway in which a school can hire a candidate to teach while finishing the M.A.T. program.
Gardner cited individual attention from qualified professors and longstanding relationships with area schools that yield unique collaborations as other benefits to students enrolled in the program.
And the investment in the M.A.T. pays off.
“In East Tennessee, first-year educators with a master’s degree in teaching earn, on average, $8,300 more than those who enter the profession with only a bachelor’s degree,”
Gardner said.
More information is available at maryvillecollege.edu/MAT-STEM.