Bayer USA Foundation grant to establish CSUEB STEM Education Center
Cal State East Bay President Mohammad Qayoumi shakes hands with Bayer President and CEO Greg Babe. (Photo: Barry Zepel)
- March 2, 2011
The Bayer USA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bayer Corp., has announced a $540,000 grant to California State University, East Bay to support the creation of a new Center for STEM Education (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) on the Hayward campus. The three-year grant will also establish the Bayer Executive Directorship to lead the center, and allow the school to expand regional teacher development programs for STEM subjects.
“We are enormously grateful to Bayer for this grant,” said CSUEB President Mohammad Qayoumi. “They share our dedication to strengthening the economy of the East Bay region, and our vision of a new paradigm for math and science education in California and the region.”
Bayer, part of an international health care, nutrition and high-tech materials group, has offices in Berkeley, Emeryville and Richmond. This grant marks the foundation’s largest contribution to their ongoing nationwide commitment to strengthen STEM education and diversity.
“With this Bayer USA Foundation grant, Bayer is deepening its investment in STEM education in an area of the country that is of major importance to our biotechnology business and the company as a whole,” said Greg Babe, president and CEO of Bayer Corporation and president of the Bayer USA Foundation.
The interdisciplinary center will help coordinate existing STEM education projects in the university’s four colleges, according to Dean Michael Leung of the College of Science. It will also play a lead role in enhancing and developing new programs as part of CSUEB’s ongoing focus on STEM-centeredness.
"California has long been synonymous with scientific innovation, yet K-12 students here are underperforming on standardized tests in STEM fields," said Tom Torlakson, California Superintendent of Public Instruction. "The new STEM center at CSUEB will be critical to helping us improve curriculum, provide teachers with training and support underrepresented student populations."
Support for STEM education is one of the university’s top strategic initiatives and a key priority in the University of Possibilities comprehensive fundraising campaign. CSUEB has developed a three-part approach to address regional challenges as well as school and workforce needs, which calls for teaching STEM across the curriculum at CSUEB, improving training for K-12 STEM teachers, and partnering with regional businesses, like Bayer, to build a pipeline of students engaged in STEM subjects and prepared for the workforce.
Babe said Bayer recognizes that all of these areas “are equally important to create a vibrant STEM education and professional community.” The company and foundation have also developed a national initiative, Making Science Make Sense, to advance science literacy through hands-on, inquiry-based science learning, employee volunteerism and public education; and Biotech Partners, an education-business-government partnership that has trained more than 2,000 underserved students for careers in biosciences over the past two decades.
The Center for STEM Education is also supported by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. Through the center, CSUEB will lead regionwide efforts to build on and expand sustainable models, including Biotech Partners and MESA (Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement). Announcement of the Bayer Executive Director is expected this spring.
About California State University, East Bay
California State University, East Bay is the San Francisco East Bay Area's high-access public university of choice. CSUEB serves the region with campuses in Hayward and Concord, a professional development center in Oakland, and an innovative online campus. With an enrollment of almost 13,000, the University offers a nationally recognized freshman year experience, award-winning curriculum, personalized instruction, and expert faculty. Students choose from among more than 100 professionally focused fields of study for which the University confers bachelor's and master's degrees, as well as an Ed.D. in education. Named a "Best in the West" college, as well as a Best Business School, by the influential Princeton Review, Cal State East Bay is among the region's foremost producers of teachers, business professionals and entrepreneurs, public administrators, health professionals, literary and performing artists, and science and math graduates.
About Bayer USA Foundation
The Bayer USA Foundation is an endowed 501(c)(3) entity and is the primary source of Bayer Corporation’s philanthropy in the United States. With a programmatic focus on the environment and sustainability; education and workforce development; arts and culture; and health and human services, the foundation creates and supports organizations that improve communities in which Bayer employees live and work, as well as society at large. The Bayer USA Foundation is one of three Bayer foundations worldwide, including the Bayer Science & Education Foundation and the Bayer Cares Foundation.
About Bayer Corporation
Bayer Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, is a subsidiary of Bayer AG, an international health care, nutrition and high-tech materials group based in Leverkusen, Germany. The company’s products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. At the same time Bayer creates value through innovation, growth and high earning power. The Corporation is committed to the principles of sustainable development and to its role as a socially and ethically responsible corporate citizen. Economy, ecology and social responsibility are corporate policy objectives of equal rank. In North America, Bayer had 2009 net sales of approximately 7.7 billion euros (about $10.7 billion) and employed 16,300 at year end. For more information, go to www.bayerus.com.