Physics Teacher Recruitment Strategies at Lewis University

During the course of our PhysTEC recruiting grant, Lewis University has developed and implemented a number of strategies to grow its physics teacher preparation program. We have launched a five-year BS or BA in Physics / MA in Secondary Education leading to licensure program and have modified Get the Facts Out resources to produce marketing materials, presentations for faculty and students, and an interactive website with salary and economic data specific to the Chicagoland area. While these helped market the teacher preparation program internally, we ran into various challenges reaching high school and community colleges students during COVID. Recently, however, we have had success bringing high school students to campus for various activities like stargazing events with wraparound programming that highlights our offerings, including physics teacher preparation. We have also been able to present to the Physics Club at a local community college and will be hosting an SPS Zone 9 meeting, which will feature a Get the Facts Out Breakfast. This poster will provide an update on our grant activities and discuss new programming we have developed to reach future teacher candidates.