Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance Update

Dear Colleagues – It is difficult to believe that it has been a little more than a month since the launch of the Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance (TRSA) last December.  We wanted to update you on the many incredible things that are happening in the Tulsa region because of TRSA!

US2020 City Competition Grant

  • STEM Mentor Meeting – We were pleased to convene a gathering of Tulsa region mentorship providers to learn from them about the incredible mentorship programs that are up and running in the Tulsa area.  The gathering included representatives from the Oklahoma Afterschool Network, Camp Fire Girls, Girl Scouts, Partners in Education, Tulsa City County Library, STARBASE, FIRST Robotics and others.  We were also fortunate to have Dr. Dodd and Lisa Witcher with Union Public Schools in attendance.  The consensus of the meeting was that there is large capacity to train and equip STEM professional for mentorship.
  • School Administration Survey – We were able to get good feedback from Tulsa area school districts regarding the STEM mentoring that are currently ongoing in the school setting.  The school districts are very open to scaling up STEM mentorship and are going to be vital partners in this initiative.
  • STEM Mentorship Business Roundtable – The US2020 City Competition Grant team working in collaboration with the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce and specifically with Kuma Browne, Partners in Education director, held a convening of more than Tulsa region business partners to learn more about their will and capacity to actively partner in this ambitious STEM mentorship initiative.  The business community generously and warmly embraces the dream of scaling up STEM mentorship in the Tulsa region and stands ready to play their pivotal role of training and inspiring the next generation of STEM professionals.
  • US2020 City Competition Teleconference – The US2020 City Competition Grant team was able to have a conference call with Rachel Alexander, coordinator with US2020.  We were able to share some of the very encouraging things we see developing here in the Tulsa region and get questions answered to enable us to better prepare our round 2 application on February 14.

Innovation Rooms Update

  • Youth Career Connect Grant Innovation Room – Met with several other parties interested in the grant and determined that the timing (over the holidays) and short time line rendered this grant not feasible for our group at this time.  We do plan to meet with other Tulsa regional partners interested in pursuing this type of the grant in the future, so that we can have some elements of this type of application on the shelf for future use. The contact for this group is Shelley Cadamy Munoz – e-mail: scadamymunoz [AT] workforcetulsa [DOT] com
  • Women in STEM Conference – This Innovation Room is still active with participants sorting through possible agenda items, keynote speakers, and scheduling.  The hostess for the innovation room is Traci Saeed – e-mail: oklahomawomeninstem [AT] gmail [DOT] com

Smartsheets – Please avail yourself of the growing STEM related data banks contained in the following smartsheets:

  • STEM Activities
  • Evaluation of STEM Activities
  • Speakers’ Bureau
  • Summer STEM Activities
  • Spring Break STEM Activities
  • STEM Mentoring

Up Next

  • Structure & Staffing of TRSA – Finishing touches are being put on a business plan model for TRSA using the work completed in the two Design Studios with TIES.  Once that plan is in place, seed funding for staffing will be pursued.
  • US2020 City Competition Grant Application due Friday, February 14 – The grant application team will take the input from the STEM mentors meeting, the Business roundtable and the surveys of Tulsa area school administrations and use the data to craft our round 2 application. 
  • Formation of Additional Innovation Rooms
    • Communication
    • STEM curriculum/kits
    • STEM mentoring logistics

Thanks to each of you for your part in launching this dynamic and innovative web of citizens in the Tulsa region with a united purpose to grow a robust STEM workforce for our beautiful city.  We look forward to more collaborative impact with tremendous partners like you in the weeks and months ahead.

January’s “But for the Alliance moment…”

But for TRSA, The Tulsa Engineering Challenge (TECh) would not have met with Dove Science Academy to explore ways to collaborate and create the Tulsa STEM expo – one part engineering design challenge – one part science fair – designed to impact more than 1,000 Tulsa regional students with high-quality and experiential STEM activities. (Xan Black)