Visit the College's News & Events Site or return to Connections

Alumna Wins Einstein Fellowship by Joe Savrock Barbara Houtz ’78 MICRO, ’91 SECED, eighth-grade science teacher at Bellefonte (Pa.) Middle School, has won a prestigious Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship for the 2005–06 academic year. As an Einstein Fellow, Houtz is spending the current school term at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Washington, D.C., working in the Office of Science Education (OSE). Her ten-month placement began Sept. 1 with a group meeting that included other Einstein Fellows at the National Science Teachers Association Building in Arlington, Va.

The Einstein Fellowship Program was authorized by an act of Congress in 1994. It offers elementary and secondary mathematics, technology, and science teachers who have demonstrated excellence in teaching an opportunity to serve in the national public policy arena. Selected teachers serve as Fellows to provide practical insights and real-world perspectives to policy makers and program managers developing or managing education programs. The fellowships increase understanding, communication, and cooperation between the mathematics, science, and technology education community and legislative and executive branches of the federal government. The program is administered by the U.S. Department of Energy and is coordinated by the Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education.

“Einstein Fellowships are flexible,” said Houtz. “Sometimes they are tailored to meet the strengths of the individual teacher once the program commences.”

Houtz, the first teacher in Pennsylvania to be awarded an Einstein fellowship, is one of this year’s 17 recipients nationwide. During the selection process, she went through two preliminary screening rounds, and then was invited to the nation’s capital for a weekend of interviews with selection committee members. The committee actually selected Houtz for two different Einstein placements. Since she could serve in only one placement, she chose to work with the OSE.

The OSE plans, develops, and coordinates a comprehensive science education program to strengthen and enhance efforts of the NIH to attract young people to biomedical and behavioral science careers and to improve science literacy in both adults and children. “This office works with NIH scientists, researchers, textbook writers, and others to create and distribute curricular supplements free of charge to teachers across the United States,” explained Houtz. One of her duties will be to write curriculum units for use in schools nationally. She will be working directly with another Einstein Fellow, Heidi Coleman from North Carolina.

“Bellefonte Area School District has been exceptionally helpful by allowing me to take a sabbatical leave for professional development during this school year,” said Houtz. “I hope to bring back state-of-the-art science content knowledge to use in my classroom and to disseminate to others in my district and in my field throughout Pennsylvania. Eventually I’d like to work with state-level departments to help provide curricular materials—Web-based and hard copy—for use throughout Pennsylvania and the nation.”

Houtz already has been helping safeguard the future of her profession by serving as a mentor for student teachers in cooperation with Penn State’s Office of Preservice Teaching Experiences. MeeCee Baker, supervisor in the preservice teaching office, noted that “Barb is truly the best of the best. She implemented her research findings in her own classroom and the result was a dramatic increase in the students’ PSSA (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment) reading scores. Her field-based application of education theory, concern for her students, hands-on approach, and ability to reach students of varying abilities and background truly set her apart from her peers.”

In addition to her two B.S. degrees from Penn State—one in microbiology in 1978 and the other in secondary education/biology—Houtz obtained a master’s degree in curriculum and technology from the University of Phoenix in 2004. She has taught life and general science for 12 years at the Bellefonte Area Middle School. She also has worked as a research assistant in numerous microbiology labs at Penn State, and worked as an electron microscopist. She has sat on numerous district and regional science curriculum and standards committees. She recently completely revised an online high school biology course for blendedschools.net, an online learning resource.

Houtz is a third-generation Penn State graduate and has resided in State College since 1974. She and her husband Dorsey Houtz have three children. Nathan works at Penn State in Computer Science & Engineering; Colleen is completing her student teaching in elementary education this fall semester; and Russell plans to graduate from State College High School next summer.

###