Hopper-Dean Center of Excellence for K-12 CS Education
With generous endowment funding from the Hopper Dean Family Foundation, the UTEP College of Education established the Hopper-Dean Center of Excellence for K-12 Computer Science Education. The center aims to be a world-renowned leader for broadening participation in the K-12 computer science education (CSEd) research, practice, and policy ecosystem where intellectual, cultural, and linguistic diversity drive innovation, occupational attainment, and public awareness—bringing together interdisciplinary partnerships with educators, researchers, and leaders to advance discovery, knowledge, practice, and policy.
The mission of the Center is to advance K-12 Computer Science education discovery, knowledge, and practice with an emphasis on culturally- and linguistically responsive perspectives through building bridges, reimagining borders and frontiers, and enacting progress.
This endowment would not have been possible without the tireless work of CSforAll to find donors to establish similar centers/institutes in other Colleges of Education to advance computer science education.
Select Grant Initiatives
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El Paso Computes: K-12 Impact funded by the City of El Paso (2024-2026)
- Focus: Building capacity in computer science education by providing professional development in computational thinking, advanced computing, and AI with K-12 teachers and increasing the number of secondary Computer Science-certified teachers in the El Paso region
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Paso del Norte Texas Computer Science Teaching Fellows funded by the National Science Foundation (2022-2028).
- Focus: Creating a high-quality MA with Computer Sciecne certification and residency in UTEP’s post-baccalaureate certification program (ACP)
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Building Capacity in Computer Science Education at The University of Texas at El Paso, funded by the U.S. Department of Education(2022-2025)
- Focus: Creating a high-quality Computer Science teacher preparation pathway for initial teacher certification in 8-12 Computer Science
