Mississippi's “Education Governor,” former Governor William Winter, is the guest speaker at the Mississippi Teacher Corps Reunion on the University of Mississippi's Oxford campus the evening of Saturday, July 16th.

Andrew Mullins, Ph.D., co-founder of Mississippi Teacher Corps (MTC), served as former Governor Winter's Special Assistant for Education in the early 1980s.

“Although the Teacher Corps was started after he was out of office, the Education Reform Act (ERA) of 1982 enabled us to have an alternate route,” said Mullins.

Mississippi Teacher Corps is a two-year alternate route teacher certification and master's degree program. The program started in 1990 as a one-year alternate route teacher certification program to deal with the state-wide teacher shortage, especially in high poverty areas like the Delta.

MTC Program Coordinator Ben Guest said that Governor Winter's ERA of 1982 set the stage for MTC. Before 1982, there was no alternate route program in the state of Mississippi.

“Governor Winter is widely-acknowledged as one of the most progressive education governors in the South and in the country. I think Dr. Mullins' experience working for Governor Winter, the camaraderie and discussion of ideas that all of these young people on Governor Winter's staff had, helped inform Dr. Mullins' creation and vision of MTC,” said Guest.

This will be the first MTC Reunion. Former MTC Program Coordinator and current Assistant Dean of Education, Germain McConnell, Ph.D., mentioned to Guest that he wanted to have a reunion. Although Guest and McConnell are both former MTC members, they were surprised by the responses they have received about the reunion.

“Mississippi , and MTC, is something that is dear and important to a lot of people. I get the sense that for many people it was the hardest and most rewarding two years of their professional lives,” said Guest. “The experience in Teacher Corps is a powerful one and, while we have had different individuals in the program, we are all connected by this incredibly intense and rewarding experience.”

Guest is looking forward to the reunion. He considers MTC like one big family, with each graduating class being like distant cousins that you have heard about but never met.

Former Governor Winter will speak on the value of teaching at a dinner between 7 and 9 p.m. as the final event of the reunion. The reunion starts on the afternoon of Friday, July 15 th on the University of Mississippi 's Oxford campus. Many events are planned including a walking tour of campus, a presentation of the history of MTC and a town hall meeting. For information about tickets to the dinner or a schedule of events contact Program Coordinator Ben Guest at 1-800-884-7606 before 5:00 p.m. on Monday, July 11th.

The Mississippi Teacher Corps is the most competitive alternate-route teaching program in the country. It is a two-year program that recruits recent college graduates to teach in critical-shortage areas in the Mississippi Delta, in exchange for a full scholarship for a master's degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Mississippi. The program was founded in 1989 by Amy Gutman, a Harvard University graduate student, and Dr. Andy Mullins, then Special Assistant to the State Superintendent of Education. Since 1989 more than 300 participants, reaching an estimated 60,000 students, have taught in critical-needs school districts as part of the Mississippi Teacher Corps.

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