UNM is getting $300,000 in scholarship money to offer New Mexico teachers a chance to take online courses in professional development.
The Organization of American States announced last week it will be donating 1,500 scholarships to UNM to train teachers. Each scholarship will be worth $200.
Alison Trepple, the executive coordinator of information technology for human development, said the scholarships would pay for online courses offered through the Educational Portal of the Americas.
The portal is a Web site that began in September 2001, allowing educators from around the world to receive universal training in education. It promotes equity in education training, according to the Web site.
The organization and the University signed a cooperation agreement in 1994 and have been working together for more than 11 years.
The organization is international and has 34 member states in North and South America, bringing together the countries of the Western Hemisphere to strengthen cooperation, according to the Web site.
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"It's like the U.N. for North and South America," Trepple said.
The organization also works in specialized areas such as education and democracy.
"We're hoping it helps professional development in New Mexico," she said. "New Mexico teachers will directly benefit from it."
Cynthia Radding, director of the Latin American Iberian Institute, said the scholarships cover most of the cost of the online classes for New Mexico teachers.
She said the portal site offers 25 online courses.
The courses are for primary and secondary education teachers and administrators. Guillermina Engelbrecht, a professor in the College of Education, said the portal is a useful tool for UNM students.
She said the college will review courses offered on the portal to determine if graduate students can transfer credits from the online courses to the college.
The portal is in Washington, D.C., at the organization of American States, but the possibility of having at portal at the University has been discussed.
Jorge Garcia said the virtual environment allows for distance education.
"UNM becomes the gateway for education and research using a virtual environment," Garcia said.
He said to set up the portal at UNM would cost between $1.5 million and $2.5 million.
Eliseo Torres, vice president of student affairs, said if the portal were at UNM, the University would be a key player in offering distance courses.
The scholarships, he said, allow the University to offer distance courses without cost to teachers.
Trepple said to qualify for the scholarships, a person needs a degree in teaching but does not need to be licensed.
The scholarships will be given out in 2005 and 2006.
The Organization of American States will decide who receives the scholarships, but the Latin American Iberian Institute will be administering them.
Torres said plans for the project are still in the works and have not been finalized yet.
The scholarships are just phase one of the project, Torres said.
