The Education Foundation recently named Kristin Whittenburg to the newly created position of director of STEAM initiatives and special projects.
Whittenburg has been research and innovation strategist for the Office of Innovation and director of research and evaluation for the Research, Evaluation and Accountability department.
She has been in the director of STEAM initiatives and special projects post since mid-March. Whittenburg has been with Ector County ISD since June 2020.
“Right in the middle of COVID. It was an interesting time to start a new job because you only saw people from like the eyeballs up and so it was hard to get to know folks at that time. A lot of stuff was by Zoom and it was interesting,” Whittenburg said.
Before coming to ECISD, she was at education service centers for a total of 16 years, including time at Region 18 Education Service Center and Region 17 Education Service Center in Lubbock.
She taught science at Dunbar Science Academy in Lubbock ISD.
“One of the neat things about the science academy was we did three out of town field trips a year per grade level. It was a really unique experience,” Whittenburg said.
At the time, the junior highs were seventh through ninth grade.
“The culminating ninth grade trip was a week down to Port Aransas … That was such an amazing experience. The kids, a lot of them, had never even left Lubbock and we put them on a plane and flew him down to the coast and it was really, really cool. That was fun. I enjoyed that,” Whittenburg said.
Born in San Antonio, Whittenburg grew up in Lubbock.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in range and wildlife management from Texas Tech University. When she graduated, she was hired to do an internship at the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose. They assigned her to the education department there.
“We did hikes and tours and outreach to schools and that’s where I discovered I really wanted to be an educator. I went back to Tech and got post baccalaureate certification in secondary science. It was a very fortuitous turn of events that they put me in the education department at Fossil Rim because that’s what made me realize what I really wanted to do was to share my love of science, STEM and nature with other people,” Whittenburg said.
She then went to Region 17 as the science specialist and ended up being coordinator of curriculum.
“During that time, I went to Lubbock Christian University and got my master’s in educational leadership. That was kind of my jump-off into leadership. While I was at Region 17, I got my superintendency certification from Texas Tech. I really enjoyed that, so I started my PhD and completed it when I was here,” Whittenburg said.
Her PhD is in curriculum and instruction with a STEM education focus from Texas Tech.
“Another thing that I was exposed to during my PhD, my advisor, his research focuses in global education. I learned a lot about how we can not only be teaching our students and our educators about STEM and STEAM and science, but how are we preparing our learners to be global citizens? Technology has just shrunk our world so much. We actually worked with teachers and they worked with their students collaboratively with students in other countries. We worked with college students in China. We worked with science students in Brazil,” Whittenburg said.
Her new position is funded by the Education Foundation, but she works for Ector County ISD.
The position was created for the Inspiration Station.
“Basically in a nutshell, what we’re doing is we want to showcase the great things that the district is doing for kids, but also have a community outreach arm so that we’re going out and bringing things to the community that they can’t necessarily get anywhere else,” Whittenburg said.
Celeste Potter, executive director of development for the district, said she is thrilled to have Whittenburg on the team.
“I am excited to have Dr. Whittenburg on board in the ECISD Development Office to help us drive the work of the Inspiration Station, funded by the Education Foundation. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our team and we are looking forward to seeing the impact the Inspiration Station has on the district and on our community,” Potter said.
