Cerritos College News Releases - March
2004 
Cerritos
College
Teacher
Training
Academy Leaders Selected to
Mentor Mathematics and Science
Program Development
Fast-Track Degree and Credential Program to Serve as
Model at Other Campuses
For Immediate Release: March
10, 2004
Contact: Kristen Habbestad,
Public Affairs;
(562) 860-2451, ext. 2287,
khabbestad@cerritos.edu
Norwalk, CA—March 10, 2004—Cerritos College announced
today that Phi Theta Kappa, a Jackson, Mississippi-based international
honor society for two-year colleges, has selected Sue Parsons, associate
professor of mathematics and director of the Teacher TRaining ACademy (TRAC),
and Cheryl Shimazu, associate professor of chemistry and co-directory of
Teacher TRAC, as mentors leading other colleges in developing their
curriculum and program as part of PTK’s Preparing Tomorrow’s Science
and Mathematics Teachers at Community Colleges project. This project
is supported by a $568,250 grant from the National Science Foundation’s
Advanced Technology Education Division.
“We’re so pleased that our director and co-director of Teacher TRAC –
one of
Cerritos’ flagship programs –
will have an opportunity to share their expertise and knowledge with other
community colleges,” said Cerritos College Interim President John Grindel.
“Teacher TRAC instructors have consistently delivered some of the finest
educator training for first-year teachers in
Southern California, and now other
colleges will benefit from the program’s innovation.”
Each of 18 colleges selected to enhance and expand their role in
preparing future K-12 teachers has a four-member team: two community
college science and/or mathematics faculty, one community college senior
administrator, and one faculty member from a four-year college or
university who works with future teachers.
These team members will attend national teacher preparation conferences
and receive mentoring assistance over the project period from teams of
experienced science, mathematics, and education faculty currently engaged
in exemplary teacher preparation programs at two and four-year colleges.
Parsons and Shimazu, as leaders of
Cerritos
College’s Teacher
TRAC, will participate in mentoring these teams.
“Across the board, our nation’s schools are in desperate need of
teachers who are knowledgeable in math and science,” explained Parsons. “I
am thrilled that Cheryl and I will have an opportunity through our role as
project mentors to propose principles that expand future teachers’
exposure and ability in mathematics and science. Success experienced by
teachers coming out of Teacher TRAC at
Cerritos
College has resulted
through deliberate inclusion of mathematics and science training in our
curriculum.”
Teacher preparation programs that the 18 colleges develop will be
broadly disseminated to the nation’s 1,200 two-year colleges via a
website, national conference presentations, newsletters, and a case-study
monograph.
Cerritos
College’s Teacher TRAC program is
a partnership with California State University Long Beach that allows
students to begin study at
Cerritos
College and then
transfer to CSULB to complete a Bachelor's degree, student teaching and
multi-subject teaching credential in as few as four calendar years. For
more information about the program, visit
www.teachertrac.com.
For nearly 50 years,
Cerritos
College has served as a
comprehensive community college for southeastern
Los Angeles
County communities including
Artesia,
Bellflower,
Cerritos,
Downey,
Hawaiian
Gardens,
Lakewood,
La Mirada and
Norwalk. The college offers
degrees and certificates in more than 180 areas of study in nine
divisions. Annually, more than 1,200 students successfully complete their
course of studies, and enrollment currently surpasses 24,000 students.
Visit
Cerritos
College online at
www.cerritos.edu.
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