Center Story

New Urban Education Program Responds to Call for Meaningful Change for City Schools

June 1, 2009 - Changing urban education is a challenge for only the most committed, talented, and perhaps daring educators the nation has to offer - and Union University has partnered with a Memphis-based foundation to serve as pathfinders for this values-driven endeavor.

The new program, a Master of Arts in Urban Education, The Memphis Teacher Residency Program (MTR Program), is described by Dr. Thomas Rosebrough, Dean of the College of Education and Human Studies, as the only Christian teacher residency program in the nation with a mission for teachers with a Christian calling to serve disadvantaged students. Rosebrough acknowledges the program is designed for dedicated professionals, he states: "The program of study is intense and combines clinical experience with rigorous Christian academic preparation for urban teachers. The challenges that teachers encounter every day in the classroom are real and we believe that our program must prepare teachers for the realities they will face, and, we must do so in a way that sustains learning success."

The MTR program as a whole is designed to prepare teachers to make a difference in the lives of disadvantaged and at-risk students in the urban schools of Memphis, Tennessee. Graduate students who are completing this degree can expect hard work and long hours as a pattern of responsibility to be sustained in their teaching after the degree is completed. Each semester combines clinical teaching responsibility with coursework that will lead to a master's degree and Tennessee teacher licensure. The Master of Arts in Urban Education is offered toward Secondary or Elementary school teacher preparation within Union's "teacher-student dynamic of sensitivity, reflection, and faith."

The program begins June 1, 2009. The first two cohorts are chosen the weekend of April 4 from a pool of 50 candidates.

For more information on this story, contact Dr. Tom Rosebrough, Jackson Campus, 731-661-5523, trosebrough@uu.edu.

For more program information contact: Dr. Jennifer Grove, Germantown Campus, 901-759-0029 ext. 109, jgrove@uu.edu and www.MemphisTR.org.