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Teaching the Teachers: Dr. Robert W. Rescigno Appointed to Education Prep Workgroup
Wilmington University dean serves extended term on the Southern Regional Education Board on Teacher Preparation
As a member of the Southern Regional Education Board’s Commission on Teacher Preparation, Robert W. Rescigno, Ed.D., has a hand in how Delaware’s future teachers will be taught.
Rescigno, Dean of Wilmington University College of Business and director of its Doctor of Business Administration program, is one of 16 college administrators and state lawmakers appointed to the commission, which began its 18-month review of educators’ education with a summit in Little Rock, Ark., late last spring.
“Quite honestly, I loved it,” Rescigno said. “I met such wonderful people there. SREB is three to five years ahead on education trends. They’re on the cutting edge of research.”
The teacher preparation commission is ideally suited to study how to better prepare teachers for the classroom and offer policy recommendations to state governments. “It’s probably one of the most challenging issues in education,” he explained. “What are the best ways to teach teachers? There is no one way.”
Rescigno said he brings “a very unique perspective” to the commission, and to the board at large: that of a former classroom teacher and high school principal who spent more than a decade in corporate America before returning to education at Wilmington University.
“I know how to talk to a CEO, the president of a university or a superintendent of schools,” he noted. “I don’t know many people who have that ability.”
At its next meeting in Atlanta this December, the commission plans to convene around educational experts and the trends they’ve observed. “We’ll look at successful strategies and ask how they were achieved,” says Rescigno.
The non-profit, non-partisan Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) was founded in 1948 by governors and legislators who saw the connection between education, economic vitality and quality of life, and who sought to improve education at every level, from pre-K to Ph.D.
The board consists of the governors and four appointees (including at least one educator and one state legislator) from each member state. In addition to Delaware and Maryland, member states include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
Rescigno was originally appointed to the SREB in 2005 by former Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner while working as a senior vice president for Wilmington-based financial services firm MBNA and directing its MBNA Scholars program. He was reappointed by Gov. Minner and later Gov. Jack Markell to three successive four-year terms. His current appointment will run through 2019.
“SREB does a tremendous amount of good in the opportunities it brings back to Delaware,” Rescigno said. “It’s one of the highlights of anything I’ve done in my career, and I’m honored to be able to serve.”
In 2014, Rescigno was one of a handful of SREB members invited to meet with Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, at the board’s Nashville conference. Foundation representatives were there to gather insights on whether their education grants were on target. “As a result of our discussion, the foundation began to see how important it was to include teachers in these decisions,” said Rescigno.
The Atlanta-based SREB is funded by member states’ appropriations in addition to grants and contracts from foundations and local, state and federal agencies.
About Wilmington University
Wilmington University is a private, nonprofit institution committed to providing flexible, career-oriented, traditional and online associate, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs. Ranked as the second fastest growing nonprofit doctoral institution in America 2004 – 2014 by The Almanac of The Chronicle of Higher Education, affordable tuition, academic excellence and individualized attention are hallmarks of the University that enable greater student success in their chosen careers. For more information, contact Wilmington University at 302-356-INFO (4636), via email at infocenter@wilmu.edu, or visit our website: www.wilmu.edu.
