SRU special education students receive full scholarships from state grant

Oct. 19, 2023

Four Slippery Rock University graduate students in the Master of Education in special education, PK-12 certification, have earned full tuition scholarships from the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

SRU was one of 15 colleges and universities in Pennsylvania to receive a grant from the PDE to fund scholarships at institutions that partner with school districts to expedite the process for students to become special education teachers.

The scholarship recipients are:

• Amanda Filutze from Gibsonia.
• Nichole Ragnelli from Bethel Park.
• Wendy Shah from Bethel Park.
• Erika Steers from Pittsburgh.

These SRU students received a combined $100,000 of the total $1.5 million funding from the PDE’s Accelerated Program for PK-12 Special Education Teacher Certification grant program. SRU’s partnerships with local school districts are led by program co-coordinators Jessica Hall-Wirth and Eric Bieniek, associate professors of special education.