NEWS
NORMAN, OKLA. - The University of Oklahoma Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education is hosting its annual OU Teacher Bound Day on Wednesday, Oct. 29, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Oklahoma Memorial Union. This event has been offered annually as an opportunity for prospective Oklahoma high school students interested in a teaching career, but this is the first year that Texas high school students are invited to participate as well. The expansion of this opportunity to include both states’ high school students is in response to critical statewide teacher shortages, especially in the areas of early childhood, special education, and STEM.
“A primary focus of our mission as a college of education,” said Stacy Reeder, dean, “is to help ensure that every child in every classroom in Oklahoma is taught by a comprehensively prepared teacher.”
A 2023 study of teacher-student ratios in each state ranked Oklahoma 13th for the highest teacher shortages in the United States. Oklahoma’s teacher shortage led to a record-breaking 4,676 emergency teaching certifications issued for the 2023-2024 school year. Equally concerning, Oklahoma employed about 1,300 adjunct teachers in the 2024-2025 school year, an increase from 370 in 2022.
“There’s never been a better time to become a teacher with tremendous financial support while getting your degree and state-funded financial incentives to teach in Oklahoma,” Reeder said. “Our state and region need teachers more than ever, and we’re beginning to see our recruitment and funding efforts pay off for Oklahoma with increased enrollment in OU teacher education programs.”
The college offers its annual OU Teacher Bound Day and provides record levels of funding to recruit and graduate well-prepared teachers ready to serve in Oklahoma and nationally. This year, the college awarded more than $730,000 in scholarship funds to future teachers and educators. During the 2024-2025 school year, OU education majors received an additional $360,000 in federal TEACH grants and over $600,000 in support from the state-funded Inspired to Teach program. Each OU education major is eligible to receive up to $65,200 in scholarships and benefits during their time at OU and in their first five years as a teacher. To further promote teacher success and retention, graduates from the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education have had approximately $1.21 million in student loan debt paid off through the Debt-Free Teachers program, while still qualifying for additional federal public service loan forgiveness programs.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. For more information about the university, visit www.ou.edu.
Three University of Oklahoma graduate students have been named winners of the 2025 Three Minute Thesis competition, which challenges participants to explain their research in three minutes to a non-specialist audience.
Sarah Sharif, a researcher with the University of Oklahoma, has been awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to create innovative light detectors that pick up mid-wave and long-wave infrared signals at higher temperatures than previously considered achievable.
A team from OU and WVU recently earned a five-year, $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how concept cigarillos influence the potential for addiction. The results will be used to inform the FDA’s impending flavor ban on cigar products and could have wider-reaching implications for other tobacco products that come in flavors, such as e-cigarettes and tobacco-free nicotine pouches.
