Assistant Professor of Education Coordinator of the Teacher Education Program Esther Oey wants others to love teaching as much as she does. She's involved in several programs that encourage students in the area to become teachers, especially science and mathematics teachers.

A native of Northern New York, Oey returned to the area in 1999 to work at St. Lawrence, after earning degrees at Swarthmore and UCLA. She advises the University's student-teachers and teaches courses in educational psychology and contemporary problems in education. Oey also oversees Project-Based Learning Partnerships, a National Science Foundation grant initiative known formerly as the Teaching Scholars program. The program allows St. Lawrence science majors to apply their knowledge to a curriculum for students from eight North Country school districts.

"It's a community effort that benefits all participants," says Oey. "The school districts and teachers gain support for teaching math, science and technology; the secondary students learn math, science and technology in authentic ways; and the undergraduate and graduate students experience the joy of helping young people increase their enthusiasm about their subject areas, develop valuable communication skills and refine their own content knowledge and skills in the real-life application of teaching."   

Oey is part of a growing circle of faculty working to facilitate discussions about racial issues and their pedagogy. She indicates that St. Lawrence's efforts to discuss diversity and the issues that accompany it drew her to the University. "Teaching about diversity is one of my passions," she says. "We have been meeting to share stories from our classrooms, share teaching methods and discuss readings by other scholars."