REMINDER: STEMconnector & Next Steps Institute Town Hall Meeting (TODAY LIVE! Tuesday, July 9, 2013 5:00PM ET)

STEMconnector® and Next Steps Institute Announce Town Hall Series: Supporting STEM Schools 7/9, 7/30 & 8/20

Submitted by Brian Jackson on July 2, 2013

STEMconnector® and Next Steps Institute Announce Town Hall Series: Supporting STEM Schools 7/9, 7/30 & 8/20

STEMconnector® and the Next Steps Institute will host three Virtual Town Halls this summer on the topic of STEM Schools. The webinars will serve as pre-conference workshops in advance of the Next Steps for STEM Schools Conference that will be held in Charleston, SC on September 30^th–October 2^nd. Each Town Hall will focus on engaging key stakeholders in supporting STEM schools and identifying resources and best practices.

Register to attend the first Town Hall here.

The first Town Hall will take place on Tuesday, July 9^th at 5PM ET and is entitled “Leveraging Federal and State Resources to Support STEM Schools.” The following speakers will offer their unique institutional perspectives on this dynamic issue followed by a brief discussion and Q&A:

1. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) – Danielle Carnival, Ph.D., Senior Advisor
2. National Science Foundation – Jim Colby, Education and Human Resources Directorate
3. Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council – Jeff Weld, Ph.D., Executive Director
4. South Carolina Coalition for Math and Science - Tom Peters, Ed.D., Executive Director
5. Delaware Department of Education - April M. McCrae, Education Associate, Science Assessment/STEM Coordinator

Other Town Halls in the series will focus on aspects of supporting STEM Schools. On July 30^th, the second webinar will take place with a focus on how corporations are supporting STEM education and STEM schools. Representatives from DuPont, 3M, Duke Energy and Fluor Corporations have been invited to participate.

The final Town Hall in the series will be held on August 20^th and will focus on specific schools and districts where STEM schools are operating. Key discussion areas include: policy drivers and constraints, professional development infrastructure, funding mechanisms and assessment. Speakers are still being determined and will be announced at a later date.

During the Town Halls, STEMconnector® and Next Steps will moderate a Twitter Chat. Those wishing to participate in the Twitter discussion should use the “hashtag” #NS4STEM. Participants will have the opportunity to Tweet questions for the panelists.

Next Steps Institute and STEMconnector® are producing these Town Halls in an effort to increase public discussion around STEM schools among the funding and implementation communities. The webinars lead up to the “Next Steps for STEM Schools” Conference to be held in North Charleston, SC from September 30^th–October 2^nd. To learn more about the conference visit http://www.nextstepsinscience.org/

STEMconnector® is "the one-stop-shop" for STEM information. With several products and services, STEMconnector® supports its members design, implement and measure their STEM strategies. Since its launch in 2011, STEMconnector® has been the leader in leveraging a network of STEM stakeholders and "making things happen. "STEMconnector®'s charge is to identify, inform and connect entities working in STEM Education/Careers to assess smart STEM investments and results.

Next Steps, powered by Earth Force, is a program committed to getting learning into students' hands. Formerly the Association of Science Materials Centers (ASMC), Next Steps is evolving to tackle the hands-on learning needs of the growing STEM landscape. Partnered with South Carolina's Coalition for Mathematics & Science at Clemson University, Next Steps is working hard to bring a workforce perspective to STEM and STEM learning.