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UCF Panel Discusses Challenges of Math and Science Education
By Chad Binette Jan. 9, 2009
Photo: Jacque Brund
Norm Augustine (left), former chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin, speaks as UCF professors Lisa Dieker and Michael Georgiopoulos listen during a forum Friday.
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The United States needs to enhance K-12 math and science education and encourage more women and minorities to pursue careers in those fields, former Lockheed Martin Chairman and CEO Norm Augustine said Friday at a UCF forum.
Augustine headlined an expert panel that addressed the challenges of science, technology and math education from kindergarten through college. The briefing, organized by the University of Central Florida’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, aimed to merge ideas from the academic, political and business communities, which will need to work together to achieve the best results for kids and the nation.
“America has some outstanding schools and teachers, but the fact is that overall, by global standards, we are failing badly,” Augustine said.
A panel discussion after Augustine’s presentation featured efforts by UCF, Orange County Public Schools, Lockheed Martin, the Harris Corp. and others to improve education in science, technology, engineering and math, known as the STEM fields.
UCF professors Lisa Dieker of the College of Education and Michael Georgiopoulos of the College of Engineering and Computer Science served on the panel. Other panelists were Ron Abbott, executive vice president of Lockheed Missiles and Fire Control; J. Greg Hanson, a 1987 UCF graduate who was the first chief information officer for the U.S. Senate; Jim Clamons, a vice president with Harris Corp; and Judy Cunningham, a UCF graduate and longtime educator who now serves as a deputy superintendent with Orange County Public Schools.
“I believe that with help from the community, we can make a turnaround” in math and science education, Cunningham said. “We have to make a turnaround.”
Panelists pushed for more government funding for education in the STEM fields, better pay for teachers and a stronger focus on ensuring that math and science teachers know the content of those fields well.
Dieker is director of the Lockheed Martin/UCF Math and Science Academy, which has helped hundreds of math and science teachers earn master’s degrees and aided leaders in the math and science fields in making the transition to middle school teaching jobs.
Georgiopoulos said creating smaller learning communities for students is one solution. He oversees a two-year program at UCF known as EXCEL, which aims to help incoming freshmen increase their success in science and math classes by creating connections with other students, faculty and disciplines.
Funded by the National Science Foundation, EXCEL involves small, specialized classes; special advising days; and mentoring by graduate students and faculty.
Augustine is chairman and CEO emeritus of Lockheed Martin. He served as assistant secretary, under secretary and acting secretary of the U.S. Army in the early to mid-1970s before joining what was then the Martin Marietta Corp. in 1977. He was Martin Marietta's chairman and CEO from the late 1980s through 1995, when he became president of the newly created Lockheed Martin Corp.
Augustine said it’s important to increase the number of students, particularly women and minorities, graduating with degrees in the STEM fields and the number of K-12 math and science teachers who are comfortable teaching those subjects. To appeal to corporations that now look elsewhere for labor, the United States needs to be a leading innovator that can quickly move ideas to the market, he added.
The briefing, sponsored by Bright House Networks, will be broadcast on UCF TV.
Suhtling Wong-Vienneau contributed to this story.
UCF Stands For Opportunity: The University of Central Florida is a metropolitan research university that ranks as the 6th largest in the nation with more than 50,000 students. UCF's first classes were offered in 1968. The university offers impressive academic and research environments that power the region's economic development. UCF's culture of opportunity is driven by our diversity, Orlando environment, history of entrepreneurship and our youth, relevance and energy. For more information, visit http://news.ucf.edu.
