Program – Page 4 – Institute for Recruitment of Teachers

Associate Director & Manager of Programs Update, March 2024

Dear IRT Community,

As we welcome the arrival of Spring, a time of renewal and reimagination, I would like to take this opportunity to share our most recent program updates.

ADVISING
Current IRT Scholars are hearing back from graduate programs about acceptances and funding packages. They are utilizing resources as well as engaging with their IRT Advisors and fellow cohort members through meetings, chats and cohort social hours. These differentiated tools of engagement allow our scholars to feel a sense of belonging and community as they embark on their decision making process. Our warmest CONGRATULATIONS to our scholars on their graduate school acceptances! Our young people across the education sector will greatly benefit from your knowledge, skills and talents. Also, we want to shout out APPRECIATIONS to our Statement of Purpose Advisors for working closely with our scholars on their applications. Scholars have remarked that their advisors not only offered constructive feedback on their drafts but also encouraged them to show their authentic selves. At a time when diversity is being dismissed this type of guidance is of even more importance.

IRT Hiring Advisors!

The time to hire Statement of Purpose Advisors (SOPAs) is upon us! The IRT seeks to hire 15-20 alumni or similarly qualified applicants to serve as SOPAs for the incoming 2024 cohort. A full description of the role, length of employment, compensation, and qualifications can be found in the job description here. The deadline to apply is March 17^th.

Anyone with questions about the role should reach out to Arts & Sciences Programs Specialist Brittany A. Zorn at bzorn@andover.edu. Previous SOPAs have said about the role:

“I applied to be an SOPA advisor because I would not be where I am today without IRT. The individualized attention I received through the program, the academic and emotional support, and the knowledge I gained was priceless. It is my greatest hope that I can give any student I work with the same feeling of confidence that no matter where I ended after the application deadline was over, I had done everything I could. Every individual in the IRT program belongs in academia, and I am incredibly proud to be a part of this program.”
Yasmin Mendoza, IRT ’21

“I’m really excited to return to the IRT community as a Statement of Purpose Advisor. With the support of Leslie and LaShawnda a few years ago, I found the process of writing a Statement of Purpose to be an important and rewarding intellectual journey that helped me refine my ideas, weave my lived experiences and interests into a narrative, and articulate my scholarship and its significance in different words. I look forward to becoming a thought partner to IRT scholars in their intellectual adventures!”
Woohee Kim, IRT ’19

IRT Recruitment and Application Update

The recruitment team has been busy meeting prospective students at in-person and virtual events. The IRT application is open till March 1st! All requirements, application details, and a recorded IRT information session are available online.

A special note of thanks to Juliana (Juju) Wong, IRT’ 15 for her work this season as interim Recruitment & Alumni Programs Specialist and the entire IRT Recruitment team.

Recruitment Highlights

Leislie Godo-Solo, IRT ’91 visited our newest consortium partner the University of Georgia this fall. Leislie met with our IRT liaison Camille Reynolds, Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion during her visit.

Thank you to the Recruitment Team!

It just goes to show that when two IRT alums get to talking instead of being stalled by a challenge, they set out to activate an opportunity. And that is just what Brittany Zorn, IRT ‘13, and Juliana (Juju) Wong, IRT ‘15, did last March (2023). In conversing about the upcoming recruitment season, they brainstormed how best to engage prospective scholars and Consortium partners while accounting for people’s preferences for in-person, virtual, and or hybrid meetings and events. Emerging from their collaboration was the proposal for Juliana to step into a consultancy role as the interim Recruitment and Alumni Program Specialist. Having previously served in roles with IRT as Summer Workshop faculty as well as a Statement of Purpose Advisor, Juliana was well positioned to give back to IRT in this way. This proposal was a win-win for IRT and for Juliana. It expanded IRT’s capacity at a critical time and furthered Juliana’s professional development as she sought to grow her consultancy.

Over the past few months, Juliana worked in conjunction with the IRT staff including LaShawnda Brooks, Catherine Wong, Leislie Godo-Solo, IRT’91, Sara Cerretani, and Janelle Bonasera to design and implement a recruitment strategy that involved; 1) differentiation of activities and materials for increased access to potential scholars across the United States, 2) meeting and co-planning events and info sessions with Consortium partners, and 3) gatherings of IRT alums from across years and fields of study for both social and professional networking.

Appreciations to Juliana and Brittany for their initial brainstorming and to the full IRT team for contributing to this year’s recruitment efforts. It truly takes a village. Juliana, prospective scholars, alumni, and Consortium have all commented on how grateful they are for your outreach, organization, and outstanding presentation skills. Your enthusiasm shines through all your interactions. We wish you the very best in your next ventures and look forward to continuing to engage with you as a fellow alum.

For recruitment event highlights, please read our Recruitment and Application update.

Executive Letter, September 2023

Hello IRT Community!

Happy start of the school year! As we all return to classrooms, offices, routines, and the sounds of learning – I hope our community is well and safe. Over the last few months, the IRT staff worked diligently to ensure our program operations and conversations regarding our future stayed on course. I hope you join me in expressing gratitude for their skill application, resources, and tenacity to augment the opportunities for our Scholars.

We navigated the IRT admissions cycle, welcoming 108 Scholars into our cohort. In the last year alone, teachers faced unprecedented attacks on values the IRT community holds near and dear. We are proud of our Scholars for envisioning a future of education with them in it – even though our broader communities are navigating extensive uncertainty.