Couple of Stonehill Faculty Receive 1 Million Dollar Grant

By David Pyrdol

Stonehill secures $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education for special education teachers through Project CAPE.

Project CAPE (Credentialing, Advancing, and Preparing Educators in Special Education) is the college's newest initiative launched on October 28 to help fund several new special educators in Cape Cod.

The grant was awarded successfully by the leadership of Associate Vice President/Dean of Graduate & Professional Studies Elizabeth Stringer Keefe, and the Director of Graduate Teacher Education Rebekah Louis.

Stringer Keefe said she is excited to expand and help support communities in Cape Cod.

"We are very excited to bring our work on the Cape to a new level, expand partnerships and district relationships, which will help to support the communities of Cape Cod, and is so well aligned with Stonehill's mission and will help to advance the college’s focus on a more just and compassionate world. We hope to reach as many Cape Cod and Island communities as we can with this work," said Stringer Keefe.

With the grant, Stonehill has now established a new pipeline that will make way for 24 prospective teachers who seek to earn their Master of Education degree, as well as 20 early-career Cape Cod teachers to earn the Massachusetts Autism Endorsement.

Stringer Keefe said securing the grant was especially challenging, and she is grateful that Stonehill was able to receive funding.

"Securing federal grant funding has been incredibly challenging in the current sociopolitical environment given shifting federal priorities, decentralization of some federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Education, slashing of federal funding, especially education grant competitions, and lastly, significant competition for the limited resources that remain. There has been unprecedented competition to secure federal funding given its scarcity in the last few years, so we are honored to have received this grant," said Stringer Keefe.

Prior to Project CAPE, Stonehill already established Stonehill on Cape Cod, with its mission being to offer a weekend master's degree, as well as licensure and certificate programs in special education and autism from their instructional site in Sandwich, Massachusetts.

Stringer Keefe said she noticed there was a need that was unmet for higher education access.

"In the Fall of 2019, I was introduced to Dee White, an educational leader at Riverview School in Sandwich, who had reached out to our vice president, Dr. Peter Ubertaccio, a resident of Cape Cod, about professional development for Riverview staff. When I heard about Riverview’s needs and began reading and researching the educational context on the Cape and Islands, I realized there was an unmet need for access to higher education and conceptualized a weekend master's degree program for Cape Cod residents that would not involve crossing the bridge and could support Cape and Islands schools," Stringer Keefe said.

The grant will help expand Stonehill's relationship with Cape Cod, while offering a broader reach for rural communities.

"This work is designed to build a sustainable local educator pipeline rather than rely on recruiting teachers from outside the region, recognizing the unique challenges of the Cape's proximity to higher education institutions and serving geographically isolated/rural communities. The grant has the capacity to raise Stonehill's visibility as an institution who can manage large federal grants, and importantly, aligns very closely with our mission," Stringer Keefe said. 

Through the partnership with Riverview School, Stonehill has been able to launch cohorts, funded through the Riverview Fellows program, with more planned in the future.

"Since our first cohort, we have run the Riverview Fellows program, which means Riverview School funds six of their employees every new cohort to complete the licensure and master's degree program. Project CAPE will help to fund two additional cohorts, starting in 2027," said Stringer Keefe.