News - USF St. Petersburg

Juanita Fountain, Ph.D., Instructor of Childhood Education, is now serving as the Minority Recruitment and Retention Coordinator for the College of Education.

Fountain, who began in this position in spring 2007, is working with Enrollment Services, the dean of the College of Education and COE faculty and students to develop a strategic enrollment plan for recruiting and retaining diverse students in the college. Plans for increasing enrollment and retention of all students in the College of Education are consistent with the college mission, which is "committed to meeting the needs of the community and the students it serves."

Fountain believes recruiting minority education students is critical to achieving the college mission.

"There is a tremendous need in the education community for people of color to step up and be role models for impressionable young people from preschool through graduate school," Fountain said.

The College of Education has the largest graduate enrollments at USFSP, and minority students admitted to its graduate programs have increased from 11% in 2005-2006 to 18% in 2006-2007. These encouraging trends are consistent with the admission of minority students to the undergraduate programs in the COE, which has increased 69% since 2005-2006.

In addition, Fountain is the faculty advisor for the Minority Teacher Education Scholarship funded by the State of Florida. Scholarship applications for the spring 2008 semester are due November 15. All qualified minority students interested in becoming teachers are encouraged to apply.

Fountain said, "The Minority Teacher Education Scholarship will allow a significant number of minority students to move through the university system at a more reasonable rate, which in turn, will allow them to get on with the business of educating our nation’s youth."

If you know of students interested in the scholarship, click here or contact Dr. Fountain at jfountai@stpt.usf.edu or 3-4575.