DISD, SMU to benefit from Dallas-based Texas Instruments' $5M STEM funding
Texas Instruments and the Texas Instruments Foundation have committed $5.4 million to advance public school education in science, technology, engineering and math, including $1.7 million to SMU to train teachers.
By Holly Haber
Staff Writer
Texas Instruments and the Texas Instruments Foundation have committed $5.4 million to advance public school education in science, technology, engineering and math.
The lion's share will be distributed in North Texas, and the rest will be earmarked for programs in the San Francisco Bay Area and southern Maine, where the company operates design and manufacturing facilities. The donations continue TI's long history of philanthropy in education.
Dubbed Power of STEM Education, the grants support primary and secondary school programs with a special emphasis on opportunities for girls and minorities, who are underrepresented in science and engineering professions.
"Our focus is on collaborative strategies to improve teaching effectiveness and student success in STEM education," said Andy Smith, executive director of the TI Foundation and TI director of corporate philanthropy. "We seek out effective partners who share our goals, make strategic investments and develop long-term relationships with educators and their organizations to support proven, successful programs that can be scaled and replicated. Working together, we believe all students can move forward and experience greater success in STEM."
The biggest beneficiary is Southern Methodist University, which will get $1.7 million to train as many as 216 Dallas Independent School District middle school science teachers. The program begins next summer and runs four years.