Exhibit R.4.4.h.2.a: Financial Aid and Scholarship Programs To Recruit Diverse Candidates
Reflecting Towson 2020, Towson University and the unit utilize a number of financial aid, scholarship programs, and other incentives and affirmative procedures to recruit culturally diverse candidates.
University Financial Aid and Scholarships. Included in these offerings are programs based on academic merit, financial need (or a combination of both), and cultural diversity. Representative examples include Commonwealth Award, Top Ten Percent Scholars, and France-Merrick. In fall 2013, 41% of all undergraduate financial aid was received by minority students; 65% was awarded to female students(See Exhibit 4.4.h.2.b). In fall 2013, 18% of all advanced program financial aid was received by minority students; 61% was awarded to female students.
University/Unit Scholarships. A hybrid effort is the TEACH grant ( a federal program available for undergraduate and graduate candidates. Candidates must be recommended by the unit to the scholarship office for the grant.
Unit Level Scholarships
The unit enhances the University's incentives and affirmative procedures. In addition to the previously described University scholarships to attract culturally diverse candidates, a number of specific unit scholarships target the recruitment and retention of diverse candidates (e.g., racial, ethnic, gender, SES, and geographic diversity) (Exhibit 4.4.h.3). Representative examples are:
- Robert Noyce Scholarship (
Establishing a Supportive Environment for the Recruitment, Preparation and Retention of Middle and High School Science and Mathematics Teachers
Initiated in 2009, the Noyce scholarship seeks to attract and prepare highly effective STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) teachers, and to create an ongoing professional teaching community of Robert Noyce scholars.
With the goal of increasing the number and quality of new teachers in the high-demand STEM fields, the Fisher College of Science and Mathematics and the College of Education, with support from the National Science Foundation, has established the Robert Noyce Scholarship Program. This program offers
- undergraduate scholarships during the junior and senior years - each with an annual minimum award of $10,000 and
- one-year graduate stipends - each with an award of $10,000.
This Robert Noyce Scholarship Program seeks students
- who aspire to be creative problem solvers,
- who are imbued with scientific conscience,
- who have been traditionally underrepresented in the STEM disciplines.
As of fall 2013, 44 Noyce scholarships have been awarded; eight (29.6%) have been awarded to minority students, and 27 (61.4%) have been awarded to females. It is anticipated that the TU Robert Noyce Scholarship Program will award five undergraduate scholarships and two graduate stipends each year. All recipients will be obligated, within six years of program completion, to teach for two years in a high needs school district for each year that they received scholarship or stipend support.
- the Robert Daihl Scholarship (
awarded to a science major in the Jess & Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics who intends to teach in a secondary school,
- the Teacher Academy of Maryland Scholarship (
- theJames Patterson Scholarship. “Impressed by Towson’sCollege of Educationand their commitment to urban education, specifically theTowson Reading Clinic, which providesaffordable reading interventionin Baltimore,” world famous mystery author Patterson established the scholarship in 2013 for candidates with financial need who achieved a strong academic record in high school and plan to be education majors with a focus on developing reading skills.