Tampa Bay Wipro Science Education Fellowship Program
About the Program
To help address the needs of science teachers in under-funded K-12 schools, the University of South Florida has launched a new fellowship program to provide science teachers in the Tampa Bay region with the tools they need to become more effective instructors, advance science education curriculum and achieve greater student success.
Through a grant awarded to USF by Wipro Limited, a select group of talented science teachers in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco County school districts will join the Tampa Bay Wipro Science Education Fellowship Program. For each of the next three years, the program will welcome a new cohort of 20 science teachers who will undergo 250 hours of intense capability development training while continuing to teach in their respective schools.
The program tailors to the needs of its participants by utilizing the goals of the Wipro Science Education Fellowship Program. The program trains educators to build leadership skills and teaching excellence within science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines by leveraging research-validated expertise from participating universities and designing transformative instructional experiences for under-funded K-12 schools.
Facilitated by a team of USF faculty, the project will provide opportunities for teachers to engage in lesson planning and research activities to develop improvement programs for science curriculum in their schools. Participants will also work alongside a USF faculty mentor to better improve their individual professional development.
The program welcomes a new cohort of 20 educators each year and is managed by the David C. Anchin Center for the Advancement of Teaching.
About Wipro Limited:
Wipro’s footprint in Tampa increased considerably after the acquisition of HealthPlan Services in 2016. HealthPlan Services was founded in Tampa in 1970, and is a leading provider of software and services for healthcare payers. The company services over three million insured members covering 25 percent of the Affordable Care Act market nationwide.
Over the last two years, Wipro has set up large business units outside of the health insurance market service with more than a thousand of Tampa area residents. The company has selected Tampa Bay as Wipro’s U.S.-based Center of Excellence for its Business Process Services portfolio. The company is rapidly expanding in the area and expects to double the number of Tampa-based employees by 2020.