Farrington College Receives $260,000 Grant

Funding will cover full-time director and financially support participating students

Sacred Heart University’s Isabelle Farrington College of Education & Human Development (IFCEHD) has received a $260,000 grant from The Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck (PCLB) Foundation to support the college’s Bridgeport Teacher Residency program.

Currently in its third year, the program is a year-long, immersive, co-teaching preparation model. It pairs a teacher candidate with an experienced mentor and, when the program ends, the successful candidates are promised a teaching position in a Bridgeport school. The candidates also graduate with a master’s degree in teaching.

The first round of the grant payment will cover the salary of a full-time program director to continue the work in Bridgeport and expand it to other school districts. In addition, the grant will provide financial support to SHU’s participating students to mitigate the cost-of-living expenses so they can engage fully in teaching and learning during their residency experience. 

“This grant also will support a faculty learning community to deepen our collective learning about equity and justice in the teacher education space and intersections between that and our own identities and teaching practice,” said René Roselle, SHU’s director of teacher preparation. “This will help faculty develop and become more skilled at detecting and disrupting biases and injustice in their own teaching and guide teacher candidates to do the same. This is particularly exciting and timely, considering the University-wide diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging initiatives.” 

“We are incredibly fortunate that The Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation has funded our efforts to reconceptualize our teacher preparation program, in collaboration with TeachingWorks at the University of Michigan and the National Center for Teaching Residencies,” said Michael Alfano, dean of IFCEHD and vice provost for strategic partnerships. “Our reimagined program is cutting-edge and works in strategic partnership with the Bridgeport public schools.”