West Chester University in Philadelphia

Summary

Crystal Bird and Arthur Huff Fauset were powerhouse leaders in local Philadelphia and National educational, political, and civil rights efforts.  Crystal worked with the American Friends Service Committee, Works Progress Administration, Democratic National Committee, and successfully ran for office in the Pennsylvania State Legislature, becoming the first Black woman in Pennsylvania to do so. She was also recruited by Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the Office of Civilian Defense to work on national race relations. Arthur was an educator, who believed that “education had to instill in black children ‘the will to perform, the undefeatable confidence in [their] capacity to achieve, and an unswerving belief in [their] necessary place in American life” (71).^[2] In brief, the Huffs’ goal was to “empower African American to lead themselves” (Wolfginer, 2005: 71). 

The Fauset Scholarship seeks to live the Fausets’ values and visions.

The Master’s of Science of Transformative Education and Social Change at West Chester University’s Philadelphia Center, with funding from WCU Foundation partners, will offer the Crystal Bird and Arthur Huff Fauset Scholarship (CAFS) for the 2021-2022 academic year.

Through CAFS, incoming students identifying as Black, Indigenous, or person of color (BIPOC) will be provided between $1,000-$4,000 to use towards expenses, including tuition. Materials must be submitted by May 1, 2022. Decisions will be announced June 1, 2022.

^[1]Crystal Bird Faucet, Explore History
^[2] Wolfinger, J. (2007). Philadelphia divided: race & politics in the City of Brotherly Love. Univ of North Carolina Press.

 

Selection Criteria

Applicants to CAFS must

• Identify as Black, Indigenous, or a person of color (BIPOC)
• Be an educator in the Philadelphia School District (public or charter)
• Be accepted to the TESC program along with an added submission

Application Process

Prospective students should

• Become familiar with TESC
• Complete an application to the program
• Submit a short statement--either written (500 words) or video/audio recording (three minutes)--answering the following prompt: Why are you interested in the CAFS?
• Submit your short statement to coordinators Dr. Dana Morrison (dmorrison@wcupa) and Dr. Jason T. Wozniak (jwozniak@wcupa.edu) with the subject line “Faucet Scholarship Application”
• Submit materials by May 1, 2022.

CAFS thus aims to

• Support teacher/educator diversity initiatives in the Philadelphia area.
• Lower significant economic barriers to entry to professional development and concomitant salary increases for educators of color in Philadelphia.
• Support public higher education and West Chester University’s historic mission to prepare educators in Pennsylvania.
• Advance the project of equity in education K-12 through post-secondary education.

Context 

• Program directors see the CAFS as a response to several conditions in Philadelphia when it comes to diversity, equity, and access to public higher education and teacher training:
  Philadelphia teachers are required to complete professional development requirements. Yet, unlike other school districts in Eastern Pennsylvania, the School District of Philadelphia does not offer tuition assistance to employees.^[1]
• Depending on their step level and amount of graduate credits completed, Philadelphia teachers stand to increase their yearly salaries by an average of $6,273 per year by getting a master’s degree.^[2]
• Students of color shoulder a disproportionate debt burden when pursuing higher education.^[3] This is particularly true for teachers of color.^[4]
• Educational leaders in Philadelphia and around the region are facing difficulties in their recruitment and retention of qualified teachers of color^[5], and research shows minority students do better when taught by teachers who share their identity.^[6]

West Chester University is poised to provide rigorous teacher education for teachers of color in Philadelphia:

• West Chester University is a public university regionally and nationally recognized for teacher education.^[7]
• TESC-Philly courses are offered at West Chester University’s state-of-the-art campus in Center City, Philadelphia at 800 Market Street.
• In the wake of a renewed public interest in diversity, equity, inclusion, and racial justice, there is more interest than ever in transformative approaches to these goals. TESC-Philly’s curriculum is devoted to this subject viz. education policies and practices, including our yearly Race, Class, Gender and Education Speaker Series.