The STEM Council engages nearly 100,000 students and thousands of educators each year to increase interest and achievement in STEM studies and careers through programs, events and messaging. Exciting and educational opportunities in STEM are made possible through bi-partisan support of the Iowa Legislature, leadership and guidance from Co-Chairs Governor Kim Reynolds and Accumold President and CEO Roger Hargens, the STEM Advisory Council, regional STEM advisory boards and generous business and nonprofit partners who all believe in the importance of STEM education.
Each year, dozens of committed advocates representing business and nonprofits invest strongly in Iowa STEM through grants, partner gifts and cost-sharing. This year for example, 64 corporate partners invested in the future workforce through contributions to STEM programs. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Resource Enhancement And Protection Conservation Education Program (REAP CEP) assured that life science teachers will be able to take part in summer externships through a competitive grant successfully proposed by STEM Council operations staff. The STEM Council’s operations team also successfully proposed a Department of Labor ApprenticeshipUSA subaward through Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) to support pre-apprenticeships implemented by four STEM BEST Program partners.
Other cost-sharing partners include Strategic America for all messaging support, Regional STEM Hub Institutions for regional manager support, STEM Teacher Externship workplace hosts for externs, Scale-Up programmers for educator support and STEM BEST partners for school-business partnership support.
To learn more about becoming a corporate partner, contact STEM Council Associate Director Carrie Rankin at Rankin@IowaSTEM.gov.