KU News Release

Steven Case named director of Center for Science Education

Steven Case

LAWRENCE — An award-winning educator with more than three decades of experience in science curriculum development has been tapped to lead the Center for Science Education at the University of Kansas.

Steven B. Case, research assistant professor and assistant director of the center since its inception in 2000, became director effective June 14. The center provides leadership in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education by promoting education, improving teacher development, reaching out to citizens through informal education and expanding interdisciplinary education research.

“I am thrilled that Dr. Steve Case has agreed to lead the Center for Science Education,” said Joseph E. Steinmetz, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “Steve has been very active over the last several years in the arena of public education concerning the sciences. He has been instrumental in getting the UKanTeach program started here at KU and I am sure the center will thrive under his leadership.”

As director, Case oversees UKanTeach, the center’s flagship program that allows students to earn a degree in math or science as well as a teaching license in four years. An innovative collaboration between the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and School of Education, UKanTeach was designed to double the number of math and science teachers graduating annually to about 50. Current projections show the program will exceed that goal in 2012 by graduating 80 teachers annually.

“UKanTeach is creating change in science education,” Case said. “It is a well thought out program in which all the details of preparing a teacher to go teach are considered. Our students are well versed in their content and their teaching experiences starts in their very first class.”

Well-suited to the development of UKanTeach, Case was an award-winning secondary science teacher for 20 years before returning to KU in 1997. He has served as chair of the Kansas Science Curriculum Standards writing committee, where he developed science education standards in a politically controversial climate. Case is currently coordinating a National Science Foundation, GK-12 program that provides funding to graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines to acquire additional skills that will broadly prepare them for professional and scientific careers in the 21st century. His academic background includes a bachelor’s in biology and master’s and doctorate degrees in curriculum and instruction, all from KU.

As part of a reorganization to accommodate increased demand for the UKanTeach program, Carol Williamson, a science coordinator for the Olathe school district, has been hired as a master teacher. Williamson, like Case, is a Presidential Excellence Award-winning teacher. She will begin Aug. 1, joining master teachers Margie Hill and Brad Williamson.

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