The Pre-Service Teacher Program (PSTP) was conceived in 1994 by Dr. Roger Hathaway, currently the Head of the Office of Education at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Dr. Hathaway, together with Dr. Sandra Proctor, then of Norfolk State University (NSU), presented the concept of the PSTP to NASA Headquarters, and it was subsequently approved and funded by the Minority Universities Research and Education Division in the Office of Equal Opportunities. The basic premise of the program was to promote and enhance the training of pre-service k-8 teachers in math, science, and technology. That same year the program was established at Norfolk State University with the help of Dr. Elaine Witty, who was then Dean of the School of Education. In 1995, the first Pre-Service Teacher Conference (PSTC) was held in Hampton, Virginia, attracting 300 participants from 26 colleges and universities in 12 states.

From there, the program grew. In the summer of 1998, the PSTP expanded to include the Pre-Service Teacher Institute (PSTI), which started with three two-week sessions at NASA Langley Research Center with 25 students each. Other milestones were reached in 2002 when the first national conference was held in Alexandria, Virginia, and summer institutes took place at Stennis Space Center and Marshall Space Flight Center. In 2003, other institute sites were added—Johnson Space Center and Sinte Gleska and Sitting Bull Tribal Colleges. The following year—2004—Kennedy Space Center and Ames Research Center were new institute hosts, and in 2005 the PSTP sponsored its 10th annual conference.

Partnership changes occurred in the Pre-Service Teacher Program in the fall of 2005. The National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) began serving as NASA’s administrator of the program, with Dr. Adriane E.L. Dorrington as the PSTP Director. The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) and Bennett College for Women, North Carolina, became the new academic partners. Dr. Madhumi Mitra, Associate Professor and Biology Education Coordinator in the Department of Natural Sciences, UMES, began serving as the Principal Investigator of the program. Dr. Abhijit Nagchaudhuri, Professor in the Department of Engineering and Aviation Sciences, has joined Dr. Mitra as Principal Investigator.

Today the primary objective of the Pre-Service Teacher Program, headed by the returning director Dr. Paula Tucker-Hogan, remains fundamentally the same as when it was envisioned years ago by Dr. Roger Hathaway — a partnership to enhance teaching and learning in schools. However, Dr. Tucker-Hogan is again taking it to new heights as she continues to grow the program, bring it into the 21st Century, and promote systemic reform. The motto setting the tone for 2008 echoes the past mottos while being forward-looking. It is Shaping the Future: Launching New Endeavors to Inspire the Next Generation of Explorers.