Signaling stronger cross-business and academic support for an innovative teacher fellowship program, the Georgia Institute of Technology today announced it has doubled the advisory board of the Georgia Industrial Fellowships for Teachers (GIFT) Program, adding 14 new members.

The GIFT program is administered by Georgia Tech's Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing, a unit within the College of Sciences. Its new board members include representatives from the business community, government and academic institutions.

Among the new advisory board members are Roger Wartell, chair of Georgia Tech's School of Biology; Ralph Cordell, acting director of Science Education at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Lewis Massey, president and CEO of SciTrek; Stephen Dolinger, president of Georgia Partnerships for Excellence in Education; and Marcia White, executive director of Atlanta Partners for Education for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

Also serving on the board are influential members from metro Atlanta school systems' curriculum committees, who can help teachers bring their experiences into the classroom. They include Judy H. Dennison, director of science for the Fulton County School System; Wanda Gilliard, director of mathematics for the DeKalb County School System; George Stickel, high-school science supervisor for Cobb County Schools; Adrian Epps, director of the Atlanta Systemic Initiative for Atlanta Public Schools; and Dana McGraw, director of continuous improvement for Gwinnett County Schools.

"We are excited to be able to add such a diverse group of stakeholders to the GIFT Advisory Board," said Mike Robertson, chair of the board and director of Human Resources for EMS Technologies. "The expertise that these new members bring will make GIFT an even more exciting opportunity to share business experiences with teachers and better prepare our students for tomorrow's workforce."

About the Georgia Industrial Fellowships for Teachers Program

The GIFT Program is a collaborative effort designed to enhance mathematics and science experiences among Georgia teachers and their students. It offers teachers throughout Georgia summer fellowships in business, industry, public-science institutes and research venues.

Since 1991, officials with GIFT have placed more than 700 middle- and high-school teachers in four- to eight-week summer fellowships at sponsored companies and organizations. There they gain first-hand skills and knowledge necessary for the preparation of Georgia's future work force - its students. The teachers then develop classroom curriculums based on their summer experiences.