Allison Keenan and Kevin Valdez of UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School have been chosen as the 2019-20 Lubchenco/Gaines Fellowship recipients. These fellowships support candidates in the Teacher Education Program including a single subject credential candidate with a focus on biology and has demonstrated financial need, and a multiple subject credential candidate who is a first-generation college graduate and has demonstrated financial need. The fellowships are funded by Steven Gaines, dean of UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, and Peggy Lubchenco, a retired continuing lecturer and academic coordinator at the Gevirtz School.
Allison Keenan is pursuing an M.Ed. with an emphasis in teaching, concurrent with a California Multiple Subject Teaching Credential. She received her B.A. in Art History at UCSB in 2002. She is pursuing a career in elementary teaching after a seventeen year career in residential lending.
Kevin Valdez is a Single Subject Teaching Credential (Science) and Master of Education candidate in the Teacher Education Program. He graduated from UCSB in 2019 with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and a minor in Science and Math Education. He is driven to bring science literacy into his classrooms and also to provide his students with a sense of stewardship and appreciation with the world around them.