MESA Information

Math Education Scholarship Award (MESA)

Program Description and Rationale

MESA is a scholarship program designed to help bring capable, undergraduate students to EOU to pursue Bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and to be prepared for entry into the Masters of Teaching/Teacher Licensure program in the College of Education. The MESA Program is designed specifically for Undergraduate students that are interested in becoming a secondary school mathematics teacher. Eastern Oregon secondary schools need well trained teachers to offer the higher level math curriculum now required of all schools by the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics. EOU has the capacity to produce more teachers from its programs and the MESA scholarship program will help bring students into EOU mathematics and teacher education programs. Scholarship awards will range from $2,000 to $4,000 per year and may be renewed annually until graduation.

Criteria for Awarding MESA Scholarships

To be eligible for a MESA scholarship, students must have a grade point average (GPA) of 3.25 or above from their high school (for Freshman applicants) or previous college. The following criteria will be used to rank eligible applicants:

1. Essay describing why student is pursuing a secondary school teaching career

2. Math teacher recommendation(s)

3. Math coursework at prior school (high school and/or previous college)

4. Membership in underrepresented population in mathematics teaching (gender, social-economic status, ethnicity, rural background)

Application available here

MESA Review Committee

Decisions on MESA scholarship awards, retention, will be made by the MESA Review Committee. This committee will be comprised of three faculty members: one from mathematics education (College of Education) and two from mathematics (College of Arts and Sciences). Appointments to this committee will be made by the respective Deans of these colleges.

Scholarship Decisions

MESA applications received by February 1^st will be reviewed by the MESA committee and applicants will be notified of award decisions by April 1^st.