History

The Mississippi Teacher Corps was created in 1989 by Dr. Andy Mullins and Amy Gutman. At the time Dr. Mullins worked at the State Department of Education. Amy was a journalism student at Harvard University interning at the Greenwood Commonwealth.

In brainstorming ideas of how to fill the impending teacher shortage in the Mississippi Delta, Amy and Dr. Mullins came up with the Mississippi Teacher Corps, a program founded on the ideals of the Peace Corps, in which recent college graduates from all over the United States would come to Mississippi to teach.

Initially the Mississippi Teacher Corps was a one-year program funded by several foundations in Mississippi. In 1993, the program was altered substantially and became a two-year program with a full scholarship and training from the University of Mississippi. In 1994, the program became fully funded by the Mississippi Legislature.

Since 1989 more than 400 participants, reaching an estimated 80,000 students, have taught in critical-needs school districts as part of the Mississippi Teacher Corps.

Listen to co-founder Dr. Andy Mullins discuss the History of the Teacher Corps

Listen to NPR’s report on the Mississippi Teacher Corps