The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation has announced the inaugural class of Ohio Teaching Fellows.

Each of the sixty-five career-changers and recent college graduates will receive a $30,000 stipend to complete a special master's program at John Carroll University, the University of Akron, or the University of Cincinnati to prepare them for math and science teaching positions in the state's urban and rural schools. Ohio State University and three other universities that recently joined the fellowship program — Ohio University, the University of Dayton, and the University of Toledo — will name their first group of fellows in 2012.

With support from the participating universities, the federal Race to the Top Fund, the state's Choose Ohio First program, and six private funders, including the Battelle Memorial Institute, the Battelle Fund at the Columbus Foundation, and the Cleveland, Gund, Martha Holden Jennings, and GAR foundations, Ohio joined Indiana and Michigan in March as host states for the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship program.

"The universities participating in this program realize that invigorating our teacher education programs will help our state to invigorate the way we educate our children in these STEM subject areas," said the state's chancellor of higher education, Jim Petro. "The U.S. labor market is projected to grow faster in science and engineering than any other sector in the coming years. The University System of Ohio eagerly anticipates the difference these new educators will make in focusing more Ohio children on STEM degree pathways, and ultimately, careers in these vibrant sectors."

For a complete list of the 2011 Ohio Teaching Fellows, visit the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation Web site.