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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 17, 2007

Schumer And Clinton Announce Nearly $1 Million For Rocheser Area Colleges Center For Excellence In Math And Science Inlcuded In Senate Bill

Funding Boosts a Rochester-based Program that Establishes Unique National Center to recruit and Train Students for Careers in Math and Science

U.S. High School Students Ranked 23rd in World in Recent Math Assessment

Schumer, Clinton Pushed to Secure Funds in the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Bill Expected to Pass the House Tonight and the Senate Tomorrow

WASHINGTON, DC—Senators Charles E. Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton today announced that $957,967 for Rochester Area Colleges Center for Excellence in Math and Science will be included in the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Bill. The omnibus bill, which includes 11 appropriations bills, is expected to pass the House tonight and the Senate tomorrow, before being sent to the President for his signature.

“Simply put, in the high tech future, we will not remain the world’s greatest economy if we do not do a better job of educating our children in the vital areas of math and science. With its collection of first-rate educational institutions, Rochester is uniquely poised to become America’s capital of math and science education. The Center for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching will become the crown jewel in the Rochester, and American, education community,” said Senator Schumer.

“This investment will help further cement the Greater Rochester region’s reputation as a leading center for innovation and research. Training new scientists and engineers will allow us to grow the economy and remain on the cutting edge of global competition,” Senator Clinton said. “I want to encourage our young people to reach for the stars again, just as my generation did when Sputnik and the Apollo Program summoned us to the Space Age. The Center for Excellence in Math and Science will help put a new generation on the path toward exploration and progress.”

Rochester Area Colleges, which include nineteen institutions like Nazareth, RIT, U of R, St. John Fisher, SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Brockport, Hobart & William Smith, Keuka, will use the $957,967 in federal funding to continue development of the Center for Excellence in Math and Science.  The Center will become a national base for preparing college students in the areas of math and science.  Funds will be used to promote collaborations that contribute to a deeper understanding of our students’ recent low achievement in math and science and its possible solutions at the national and local levels. Additionally, funding will be used to design national and local programs that will increase the number of students who pursue careers in math, science and related fields while increasing the national and local pool of math and science teachers at the K-12 levels.  Retention of these teachers will enhance the quality of math and science education at the elementary, secondary and college levels. Nazareth College played a special role in developing this concept.

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