ICYMI: Chancellor Zimpher Provides TeachNY Update in Mountain Lake PBS Interview
December 19, 2016
Plattsburgh, NY – In a recent Mountain Lake PBS interview with Emmy-nominated Host Thom Hallock, State University of New York Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher provided an update on TeachNY, a joint effort by SUNY and the State Education Department (SED) to lift up the teaching profession and to recruit and retain more teachers across New York.
View the TeachNY interview here.
In separate segments, Chancellor Zimpher also discusses the SUNY Completion Agenda, College Debt, North Country Thrives, STARTUP-NY, and her decision to step down as chancellor next year. View those interviews here and here.
"The boomers are retiring and they’re retiring at a rate faster than we can fill, but also, people are stepping back from enrolling in our teacher preparation programs," Chancellor Zimpher said. "We’ve got to lift up the profession. We’ve got to recruit at an earlier age. We’ve got to incentivize a career as a teacher.
"In every other successful country, teachers are honored," she added. "We have to get back to that."
The interview follows a statewide listening tour in which Chancellor Zimpher and SED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia met with more than 800 teachers, school leaders, and superintendents as well as college deans of education, faculty, and students across New York. The initiative has gained widespread support since it was announced in May.
Chancellor Zimpher and Commissioner Elia are currently reviewing feedback from the tour and continuing their conversations to develop policy proposals to bring to their respective Board before June 2017. They have also convened a TeachNY Statewide Roundtable to address TeachNY goals that go beyond what SUNY and SED policy can accomplish.
The Roundtable is comprised of cross-sector leaders that have a stake in education in New York State. Membership includes representatives from the legislature and governor’s office as well as stakeholders from across P-12 and higher education, including teacher and faculty unions. View the membership listing here.
About TeachNY
TeachNY is a movement to lift up the teaching profession and ensure that New York and the nation will have the high quality educators needed for the future. TeachNY is working to: promote the power of teaching; cement a clinical practice profession; secure investment in innovative educator preparation; improve transparency about supply and demand; and support the entire educator preparation pipeline.
Alongside the TeachNY Statewide Roundtable and listening tour sessions, a steering committee headed by SUNY Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Alexander N. Cartwright, meets regularly to take in feedback received. Ultimately, the steering committee will develop new teacher preparation policy for Chancellor Zimpher to bring to the SUNY Board of Trustees and for Commissioner Elia to bring to the Board of Regents.
About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state's only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.4 million students amongst its entire portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.16 billion in fiscal year 2024, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu.
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Holly Liapis
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