Rowan graduate students named Woodrow Wilson New Jersey Teaching Fellows

Eight Rowan University students have been chosen for the Woodrow Wilson New Jersey Teaching Fellowship Program.

Part of a statewide effort to prepare excellent science, technology, engineering and math teachers for careers in New Jersey’s high-need schools, the highly competitive program recruits both recent graduates and career changers with strong STEM backgrounds.

Each Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellow receives a $30,000 fellowship to complete the specially designed, cutting edge master’s degree program. In return, fellows commit to teach for three years in the urban and rural New Jersey schools that most need strong STEM teachers. Through their three-year commitment, fellows receive ongoing support and mentoring.

This is the third cohort of Woodrow Wilson Fellows in Rowan's College of Education. The program was launched in 2014 and includes Rowan, The College of New Jersey, Montclair State University, Rutgers University-Camden and William Paterson University. This year, there are 62 fellows.

Before the program was launched, the five selected universities spent more than a year tailoring their teacher preparation programs to meet the fellowship’s standards for intensive clinical work and rigorous related coursework.

New Jersey is one of five states offering the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship Program. The others include Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio.

Rowan’s 2016 Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellows include:

Veronica Jeziorski

A resident of Woolwich, Jeziorski will teach biology at Vineland High School North. She graduated from Rowan in May with her bachelor’s degree in biological science and has volunteered in her community as a soccer coach and referee, as well as a camp counselor. She’s also a certified pharmacy technician.

Jesse Kosior

Kosior, of Pennsville, earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from Rowan in May. He will teach physics at Millville Senior High School, Kosior worked on multiple undergraduate research projects at Rowan and also was a teaching assistant, tutor and assistant laboratory coordinator and technician.

Miranda Pellicciotti

A resident of Sewell and a 2016 Rowan mathematics graduate, Pellicciotti will teach mathematics at Vineland High School North. A leadership mentor at Rowan and a member of the Peer Referral and Orientation Staff, Pellicciotti was president of the University dance team and served on the executive board of the student commuter organization.

Mia Nicole Richards

Richards, who is from Brooklyn, graduated in 2014 with her bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Delaware State University. A tutor for mathematical sciences, she was a Boys and Girls Club volunteer and was involved in her sorority.

Summer Smith

Smith, of Woodbury, will teach biology at Millville Senior High School. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from The Johns Hopkins University in 2002 and also holds a master’s degree in biology from the University of Maryland, College Park. An adjunct biology instructor, high school swimming coach and Girl Scout troop leader, she was a graduate teaching assistant at Maryland for biology and genetics.

Jessica Thomulka

A resident of Point Pleasant Borough, Thomulka graduated in May with her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Seton Hall University. There, she was an undergraduate researcher, a Clare Booth Luce Scholar, and a member of the university orchestra. She will teach at Bridgeton High School.

Nonye Udotong

Originally from Nigeria, Udotong, now of Cinnaminson, earned a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1985 from Imo State University and a graduate degree in radiation biophysics from Ahmado Bello University in 1991. Udotong has been a community college physics instructor, a graduate assistant in physics and a substitute teacher.   Udotong will teach physics at Bridgeton High School.

Samantha Greenidge

A 2016 mathematics graduate of Iona College, Greenidge, of Huntington, NY, will teach mathematics at Vineland High School North. At Iona, she was an undergraduate researcher, math tutor, and volunteer and treatment research advocate for ALS/Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

About the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation

Founded in 1945, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation identifies and develops the nation’s best minds to meet its most critical challenges. The Foundation supports its Fellows as the next generation of leaders shaping American society.

For information on the Woodrow Wilson New Jersey Teaching Fellows Program, visit: http://woodrow.org/fellowships/ww-teaching-fellowships/.