# Title III Part A Strengthening Institutions Program

# FY 2011 Project Abstracts

# P031A110193 - Central Alabama Community College, Alabama

Central Alabama Community College (CACC) is a rural, comprehensive, public two-year college serving eight counties in central Alabama south of Jacksonville, Alabama.  The college is the only college in this region of approximately 74,461 residents.  CACC offers associate degrees as well as certificate programs are awarded by the college in a range of areas:  humanities and fine arts; natural science and mathematics; social and behavior sciences; general studies; and vocational programs.  Enrollment is 2,444 students****in fall 2009.  

This grant proposes to improve student success at CACC with a focus on low-income and other high-risk students.  The project for achieving student success addresses three broad aspects of student success:  instruction, student support, and the use of data to improve management and fiscal stability in one comprehensive, integrated activity. 

Many students at CACC have not been achieving academic success at the level and pace needed to reach their goals.  We propose to create a Summer Bridge Program and revise our advising services, including creation of a centralized Advising Center.  We also propose to expand tutoring, create supplemental instruction and closely link these with instruction.  Through a Faculty Development Program, we will also train faculty and staff to more effectively use alternative instructional pathways that recognizes the diversity of our student learners. 

This proposal**represents a comprehensive initiative to move from an instructional paradigm to a learning paradigm.**It aims to increase the success of low-income students and other high-risk students enrolled in our college.  It will enable CACC to better retain these students by improving the quality of their educational experience and strengthening their links to advising and academic support mechanisms, including relationships with peers and faculty.  We expect to significantly increase the success outcomes of our low income and other high-risk students in terms of improved academic performance and increased retention, graduation and transfer rates.  Details of these outcomes and the comprehensive evaluation process that will be used are provided in appropriate charts herein. 

# P031A110203 – Pima County Community College, Arizona

# Service Area:  Located just 60 miles north of the Mexican border, Tucson, Arizona, (population 532,288) is a city rich in history.  Archaeologists have found evidence of Paleo Indian settlements as far back as 12,000 years.  Nestled in the scenic Sonoran Desert, Tucson was founded in 1775.  Today, Tucson is home to over 200,000 Hispanic residents (40 percent of the total population).  

# Institutional Profile:  The Northwest Campus is a new branch campus of the comprehensive, six-campus Pima Community College (PCC) District serving Pima County.  In just six years since opening in 2003, enrollment increased more than 400 percent.  Currently over 6,000 students enroll each semester, of whom 38 percent are minorities.  Vision:  To provide access to learning without the limits of time, place, or distance.  Mission:  To develop community through learning.  Type:  Public, two-year community college.  Governance:  Five-member elected Board of Governors.  Accreditation:  North Central Association of the Higher Learning Commission.  Degree Programs:  Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, Associate of Business, Associate of Applied Arts, Associate of Applied Science, Associate of General Studies, Basic and Advanced Occupational Certificates.

**Activity Description:**(***Supports Invitational Priorities:  One and Three***)

The Title III Activity is designed to the *“push the fragments”* of instruction and student support together to address the problem of low academic success (58.6 percent average for 36 develop-mental and college core courses) and a very low three-year graduation rate (12.3 percent): 

· Redesign Targeted High Risk Courses Across the Curriculum: (1) building into instruction frequent academic assessments, monitoring, intervention, and support for at-risk students; (2) utilizing alternative learning spaces and expanding modalities for delivering instruction (e.g., online--hybrid); and (3) accelerating progress in developmental courses with computer-mediated support and shorter sessions guided by frequent assessments.  Provide full-time and part-time faculty with focused, systematic, discipline-specific training and the tools to integrate 21st century instructional technologies and best practices in teaching and learning.  

· Develop an Engagement Center designed as a multi-purpose space to support new learner-responsive strategies and a team-support approach.  The Library--Computer Commons has been identified as the ideal space to become an “engagement center” (learning hub) bringing together instructors, students, support staff, and peer tutors in the same space.

**Overarching Goal:**  Strengthen the college’s ability to significantly improve student success, persistence and completion rates through integration of academics and support services; engaged-technology-mediated learning opportunities; and flexible instructional modalities.

# P031A110200 – South Mountain Community College, Arizona

South Mountain Community College (SMCC) is applying for this Title III grant to develop an effective developmental education program within the framework of a “College within a college.”  It will then expand throughout the institution at grant’s end and beyond.  SMCC was established in 1978 and is a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and a Minority-Serving Institution (MSI) with a diverse--59 percent minority--and predominantly economically-disadvantaged student population.  Census data confirms that the high minority populations of the college’s primary service area are characterized by low levels of educational attainment and higher than average rates of unemployment. 

In the fall of 2009, 2842 or 52 percent of the 5,444 enrollees are first-generation college students, and 1,693 or 31 percent are low-income.  Of the low-income, 659 or 39 percent are seeking a college degree.  The student population is diverse with the following ethnic distribution in the fall of 2009:  American Indian-five percent; Asian-four percent; Black-16 percent; Hispanic-35 percent; White-22 percent; Other-19 percent for a total of 5,444 students.  This population generates very specific student needs and many are academically underprepared and require developmental education****prior to enrolling in college-level classes.  Course completion****rates in developmental education are abysmal; the student turnover rate is tragically high.  SMCC has 62 Residential Faculty and 186 Adjunct Faculty resulting in a faculty to student ratio of 1:22.

The Council on Higher Education showed in a 2007 report that over 50 percent of first-time college freshman students did not meet the Council Standard for preparation in math, English and reading and that under-prepared students are twice as likely to drop out by the sophomore year as prepared students (39 percent compared to 20 percent).  Findings also noted that even higher percentages of entering minority and low socioeconomic status (SES) students are likely to need remediation.

At SMCC, 41 percent of entering freshmen who completed placement tests placed in developmental English, 53 percent in developmental reading, and 57 percent in developmental mathematics.  In the PBS video “Discounted Dreams,” Dr. Kay McClenney pronounced developmental education as the number one job for community colleges.  SMCC is deeply committed to promoting student success and therefore proposes this Title III initiative, with the following specifically created features to address the****unusually dramatic needs of South Mountain Community College students:  **Goal 1**:  Create a **Foundations Academy**to improve student success in developmental education****courses and subsequent college courses; **Goal 2:**Create a **Foundations Training Academy** for faculty and staff to promote continual improvement of student learning through a biannual cycle of program review, evaluation, recommendation, and implementation; **Goal 3:** Transform the institutional technology environment to empower low income, minority, and first-time college students to use technology tools responsibly to manage and advance their academic careers.  This Title III initiative will require **$1,923,615** over the five-year grant period.  The institution will provide the Foundations Academy facility and substantial commitment in institutionalization processes.

# P031A110194 – Mesa Community College, Arizona

Mesa Community College (MCC), Mesa, Arizona, was established in 1966.  Mesa Community College is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association.  Mesa Community College is a two-year, public community college.  For over forty years, MCC has provided outstanding transfer, career, and service programs to the East Valley area of Phoenix, Arizona.  During the fiscal year 2008-2009, MCC had a total headcount of 43,252 students, which equated to a full-time-enrollment (FTSE) of 13,806.  In fall of 2009, MCC’s total headcount was 25,960.  This represented 12,175 male students (46.9 percent) and 13,266 female students (13,266).  The ethnicity of MCC’s student population is representative of 900 American Indian students (3.5 percent); 1,332 Asian students (5.1 percent); 1,469 Black students (5.7 percent); 4,351 Hispanic students (16.8 percent); 15,316 White students (59 percent); and 2,592 students that selected Other (10 percent).  MCC employed 299 regular faculty members (45.5 percent male, 55.0 percent female) and, 947 adjunct faculty members (50.2 male, 49.8 percent female).  The 2009 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Feedback Report estimated a student-to-faculty ratio of 21:1 in the fall of 2009. 

**Academic Quality:**The MCC *Foundations for Student Success (FSS)*focuses its improvements in the area of Academic Programs and will address two invitational priorities:  Invitational Priority One, supporting activities that will improve the institution’s persistence and graduation rates; and Invitational Priority Three, developing academic programs to improve course completion rates or developing innovate support programs designed to increase completion rates.  MCC has developed objectives which specifically address the following major challenges identified in the CDP:  (1) large percentage of incoming students not academically prepared for college; (2) student success rates are low in developmental courses; (3) developmental education students are enrolled and struggling in college-level courses; (4) the majority of development level courses are taught by adjunct faculty; (5) developmental education students are able to enroll in college-level courses prior to completing the developmental sequence; and (6) loss of developmental education students causes significant loss in revenue. 

The following *FSS*Objectives were designed to address these challenges:

Objective One:  Increase student retention and success in Developmental Mathematics. 

Objective Two:  Increase student retention and success in Developmental Reading. 

Objective Three:  Increase student retention and success in Developmental English. 

Objective Four:  Redesign the physical context of developmental education course environments. 

Objective Five:  Transform the culture of the core academic departments of mathematics, reading, and English into one that embraces the role of developmental education.

# P031A110197 – Lassen Community College, California

**Institutional Background:**  Lassen Community College (LCC) is a small, rural, two-year institution, serving a 23,000 square-mile, five-county area located in the northeast corner of California, 85 miles northeast of Reno, Nevada, and 101 miles east of Red Bluff California, east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Despite its large size, the service area has a total population of only 77,000 residents, ranging from a high of 7.4 people per square mile in Lassen County (an area the size of Connecticut) to 2.4 people per square mile in remote Modoc County.  These figures present a stark contrast to the average density of 217.2 people per square mile for the state of California.  

Lassen Community College is fully accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.  The educational attainment of many of the residents of the service area is low, poverty levels are high, and income lags behind state and national levels.  The majority of Lassen students are from Susanville and outlying small communities in Lassen County where:  Only 10.7 percent of the population 25 years of age or older holds a bachelor’s degree compared to 26.6 percent in the state and 24.4 percent in the nation.  The college offers 26 Associate of Arts degrees, 17 Associates in Science degrees, and 29 certificates.

**Title III Activity:  *Improving student success through faculty development, assessment, online services & resource development***

This Title III project will:  **(1)** Increase Faculty Professional Development Opportunities; **(2)** Improve Assessment of Institutional Effectiveness and Develop a Culture of Evidence; **(3)** Improve Online Student Services and Access to Information; and **(4)**Expand Resource Development Capacity.

**Student Body Characteristics:**

Total Fall State-Supported Headcount Enrollment (2009):  2,340

Undergraduate Student Age:  36.7 percent are 24 and under; 63.3 percent are 25 and over

Average Age:  34.2

Ethnicity:  African-American, 10.5 percent; American Indian-Alaskan Native, 3.9 percent; Asian, 1.5 percent; Hispanic, 13.7 percent; Other Non-White, 0.5 percent; Pacific-Islander, 1.4 percent; White, 65.1 percent; Unknown, 3.3 percent. 

**Faculty Characteristics:**

Faculty to Student Ratio:  1:16  

Fall 2009 Faculty:**** Full-time-30; Part-time-78

**Five-Year Project Budget:** $2,000,000

# P031A110212 – Lewis and Clark Community College, Illinois

Lewis and Clark Community College****is a public, open-admissions, two-year postsecondary institution located in Godfrey, Illinois, within the St. Louis Metropolitan Area.  The area served is southwest Illinois (population 211,903).  The college offers 17 associate degree and certificate programs from its main campus in Godfrey, a campus in Edwardsville and three community education centers. 

**Student and Faculty Profile:**  More than 8,000 students enrolled fall 2009 (2,939 full-time; 5,240 part-time; 9.1 percent minority).  Overall, a large percentage of first-entering students is first-generation college (73 percent), low-income (47 percent) and academically underprepared (77 percent).  The college employs 102 full-time faculty and another 265 part-time faculty.  

###### Key Institutional Problems:  From 2007 to 2009, Lewis and Clark “Student Enrollment Intent” data showed a positive 17.4 percent change for “prepare for job” and a positive 70.5 percent change for “improve job skills” compared to a positive 3.5 percent change for “transfer to another college” (baccalaureate track).  With the economic downswing, the college is challenged to respond adequately to a transitioning economy with new and expanded advanced technology programs incorporating 21st century technological skills vital to preparing disadvantaged residents for new job opportunities.  

###### Another piece of the problem is that most first-time entering students are academically underprepared (often re-entering education to improve job skills) and placed in developmental courses, but 40 percent of students are failing to complete those courses successfully.  The same low rate of success (39 percent) is true of the general biology course (prerequisite for some technical degrees).  Consequently, students intending to pursue technical education pathways are not able to move forward; they are stopped or delayed by these courses.

**Activity:***Moving Students Forward on High Demand Advanced Technology Pathways*

(  To address the problem of limited advanced technology pathways, the College will develop new curricula and labs for documented high-wage/high-demand programs of study:  (1) Welding Technology Associate of Applied Science (AAS) with Certificate of Proficiency and nine Certificates of Completion; (2) a new Biotechnology AAS with  Certificate;  (3) a specialization Certificate of Completion for the current Auto Tech AAS program (Hybrid-Electric Vehicle Certificate); and (3) a Network Security Certificate of Completion for the Computer Network and System Technology AAS program. 

(  To address low rates of academic success, lead instructors will redesign developmental reading, writing, and math courses and the general biology course as *technology-contextualized, specifically for students in the new and expanded Advanced Technology Programs*. 

**Overarching Goal**:  To strengthen the college by providing access to high-demand technical education pathways and by redesigning instruction to promote success for at-risk students.  

**Funds Requested:**  $1,998,345      

# P031A110176 – Ivy Tech Community College, Indiana

**Institutional Information:** Ivy Tech Community College – Indianapolis Campus (ITCI) is a two-year, public institution whose mission is to prepare residents to learn, live, and work in a diverse and globally competitive environment by delivering professional, technical, transfer, and lifelong education.  Through its affordable, open-access education and training programs, Ivy Tech enhances the development of Indiana’s citizens and communities by strengthening its economy.  The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association for Colleges and Schools.  

**College Overview**:  ITCI serves Indianapolis and its seven contiguous counties and is funded by Indiana state appropriations at 36 percent and student tuition and fees at 64 percent.  Due to a decline in state funds coupled with significant enrollment growth, ITCI has experienced new challenges in meeting the needs of academically underprepared students.  In fall 2009, ITCI enrolled 21,501 (10-day count) students, of which 50 percent are academically underprepared.  For the same period, the full-time equivalent students were **11,205** and part-time students were **10,296**.  Similar to other community colleges, ITCI has experienced an 86 percent enrollment growth over the past five years and is expecting double digit growth for the foreseeable future.  ITCI’s student body and faculty characteristics are listed in the following table:

**Student Body Characteristics:**

Minorities:  7,526

Non-minorities:  13,975

Females:  12,470

Male:  9,031

**Faculty Characteristics:**

Full-time:  156

Part-time:  586

**Faculty to Student Ratio:**

1:29

**Activity:**  The singular activity of the proposed program is to *increase the academic performance of students in developmental education courses to improve progression to college-level courses and retention rates.*  In total, the activity will cost **$1,894,468** to implement over five years.  The activity will be accomplished by addressing the following three goals:  

**Goal 1 -****Academic**– Increase student retention and progression to college-level courses by re-engineering student support services and supplemental instruction, and providing enhanced faculty professional development.

**Goal 2 - Institutional Management**– Build a student tracking system that includes an early alert module and faculty reporting module to improve the institution’s information technology systems and ability to track students.

**Goal 3 - Fiscal Stability** – Increase the capacity of the institution to manage rapid student enrollment growth to better serve students in a period of inadequate and unstable state funding. 

# P031A110204 – Union College, Kentucky

Union College is a small, four-year, liberal arts, private institution in Barbourville (population 3,611) located at the heart of Central Appalachia; 65 percent of the students come from our Southeast Kentucky region (population 317,445).  Founded in 1879, Union provides to our low income region a range of Bachelors of Arts and Sciences degrees in 32 majors, including a variety of liberal arts and natural science programs, as well as business administration, education, psychology.  In addition, Union offers Master of Science degrees in Psychology and Education.

Union’s fall 2009 undergraduate headcount was 825, 441 male, 384 female, 115 minority, and average age of 22.  Forty-four percent of students work and 62 percent commute.  Fifty-one percent self-report that they are first generation college students, and 93 percent receive financial aid.  Faculty includes 55 full-time and 37 part-time undergraduate.  Seventy-two percent of the faculty holds a doctorate.  Full-time faculty to student ratio is 1:12 (Institutional Research 2010).  

Despite our strong liberal arts tradition, Union’s undergraduate programs remain overwhelmingly traditional and campus-based.  With an average age of 22, most of our students (93 percent) are enrolled full-time with 38 percent residing on campus.  As an enrollment-driven institution, Union’s long-term challenge has been to broaden our enrollment base, thereby expanding postsecondary access throughout our Appalachian region while increasing full-time equivalent and tuition revenue.  Enrollment growth in our few online courses, combined with requests for flexible Web-based programming from current and potential students alike, is indicative of the great promise of distance instruction.  Institutional problems and weaknesses, however – including inadequate faculty knowledge of best practices in Web-based instruction and tools, inflexible and traditionally-offered student services, and inadequate infrastructure capacity to develop and independently host online programming – present considerable obstacles to capitalizing on the tremendous potential for Web-based enrollment growth. 

We propose ***Expanding Higher Education Opportunity***, a comprehensive project designed to increase the college’s capacity to develop and deliver online and hybrid curricula.  Activity initiatives include **converting 41 courses for online and hybrid delivery** over the five years of the project, including courses in popular undergraduate Psychology and Business Administration majors and key curricula in our new Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing (BSN) program.  Course redesign will be driven by hands-on **faculty professional development**, supported by a renovated Faculty Studio equipped with Web-based tools for effective Web-based course design and instruction.  We further propose to **develop a range of student services**, including Online Orientation (Year One), Online Tutoring (Year Two), Online Financial Aid (Year Three), Online Advising (Year Four), and Online Degree Audit (transcripts) (Year Five).  These initiatives will be built upon a **robust technological infrastructure**, increasing Union’s capacity to independently support online programming and Web-based enrollment increases, ending our reliance on a costly third-party vendor.  

Our proposed project addresses **Title III Invitational Priority Three**:  Develop academic programs to improve course completion rates or develop innovative support programs that are designed to increase completion rates.  

***Year 1 Request:  $399,818    Five-Year Request: $1,999,333***

# P031A110186 – Our Lady of the Lake College, Louisiana

Our Lady of the Lake College (OLOL) of Baton Rouge, is a four-year independent, private Catholic college founded by the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady.  The college is a student-centered academic community guided by their Franciscan values, faithful to Ex corde Ecclesiae and devoted to excellence in teaching and learning.  The purpose of the college is to provide each student with a unique educational experience by seeking to ensure the personal attention of the faculty, administration and staff.  

As a result of Hurricane Katrina (2005), Baton Rouge is now the state’s largest city and the center of its commerce and healthcare.  The college is a wholly owned subsidiary of Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center.  Programs of study include:  Master of Science degrees in Nurse Anesthesia and Nursing; Master of Medical Science in Physician Assistant Studies;  Baccalaureate degrees in Liberal Studies, Biology, Clinical Laboratory Sciences, Health Sciences, Health Service Administration, and, Nursing; and, Associate degrees in Arts and Sciences, Long-Term Care Administration, Nursing, Physical Therapist Assisting, Radiologic Technology, Respiratory Therapy, and Surgical Technology.   

Student to full-time instructional faculty ratio is seventeen-to-one, with the college employing eighty-four full-time faculty members and fifty-nine adjunct faculty members.  Fall 2009 census reflects an enrollment of 1872 students (eighty-four percent female and sixteen percent male). The average student age is twenty-seven years old.  Ethnicity characteristic data reveals twenty-eight percent of students enrolled self-identify as U.S. Students of Color:  twenty-two percent Black; three percent Asian and Pacific Islander; two percent Hispanic; and  one percent American Indian and Alaska Native.  

OLOL College has maintained a generally consistent if recently stalled annual growth rate of about three percent over the past several years.  This modest growth is in spite of poor student persistence:  the four-year average of the six-year graduation rate (for beginning years 1999-2002) was an unacceptable twenty-nine percent.  Moreover, the dropout rate in the college’s Associate of Science degree in Nursing Program (by far its largest) has averaged twenty-eight percent over the past three academic years.

Faculty and students have identified the college’s inability to provide value-added laboratory learning experiences in basic sciences and clinical programs as a primary reason for low student success rates at the college.  To address this problem, the college seeks $1,953,989 in Title III funding for its *Learning in Laboratories*(LIL) initiative which will:  (1) increase students’ success in science courses and student and faculty confidence in science laboratory courses; and  (2) improve health professions students’ critical and applied thinking skills, foster their inter-disciplinary learning, and reduce their critical errors in clinical contexts.

The college will devote first year Title III support to faculty development and curriculum revision as necessary prerequisites to the facilities and equipment upgrades which would follow.  The *Learning in Laboratories* proposal details how Title III funding in years two through five will, through meeting the two primary objectives, strengthen the institution by increasing new student enrollment and improving student persistence.

# P031A110208 – Becker College, Massachusetts

Becker College is a private, independent, co-educational institution accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges for providing two- and four-year academic programs.  The college was founded in 1784 and operates two campuses in Worcester and Leicester, Massachusetts.

In fall 2009, the college served 1,757 students (headcount) from 26 states and 22 countries (14 percent minorities and 63 percent female).  The college has 44 full-time and 113 adjunct faculty.  The student-to-faculty ratio averages 18:1.

For over 100 years, Becker College has provided niche programs responsive to employment market trends to provide students with strong foundational and core curricula to prepare for careers and future studies.  This is perhaps more important in light of today’s employment climate than ever before.  Several of our 28 programs offer concentrations/ specializations to further develop student learning and skills to provide the additional focus necessary to succeed in Animal Care, Design, Liberal Arts, Business Administration, Criminal Justice, Exercise Science, Nursing (RN), Psychology and Veterinary Care and Technology.

The college faces significant challenges serving the 21st century student population, especially with respect to the number of first-time, first-year students requiring an increasing number of developmental/college preparatory courses, academic counseling and tutoring to achieve academic success.   

Becker College’s Title III project *“From At Risk to Success”* includes two major components comprised of related activities providing a comprehensive, integrated and coordinated solution to address the significant weaknesses and problems identified in the Title III application.  *“Transition to College”* focuses on expanding dual enrollment with area high schools and Gateway and First Year Experience address increased need for more foundational courses and options for those at different levels of readiness.  *“Improving Existing Student Services and Activities,”*focuses on:  (1) technology to support course content and communicate students’ needs; (2) a more comprehensive “One-Stop-Center” for faculty advising, tutor and mentor programs to better manage services to initiate early intervention and aggressive strategies, if necessary; and (3) expansion of Living and Learning Communities, a successful, group/dormitory concept where students in similar programs are housed together to take advantage of peer and supplementary academic support and learn to better connect with the community.

Sample key measures are:

· 30 percent of participating Dual Enrollment students will enroll in college;

· 10 percent increase in second year retention for students in the Dual Enrollment program;

· 80 percent increase in first-time/full time student retention;

· 55 percent increase in the second year retention rate;

· 85 percent increase in first year retention of Living and Learning Student program; and  

· 90 percent of full- and part-time faculty and academic support and services staff will have received enhanced training in counseling, advising, directed learning and teaching activities and advanced use of technology and instructional design.

# P031A110175 – Community College of Baltimore County, Maryland

The **Community College of Baltimore County** (CCBC) is a public, two-year, community college providing higher education and workforce development in the Baltimore metropolitan area.  CCBC offers more than 50 different Associate degrees and two hundred certificate programs educating 67,000 students each year.  CCBC educates half of all Baltimore County residents who attend college in Maryland as undergraduates.  

The 2009 enrollment of 30,120 credit students consists of 40 percent people of color (32 percent African-American, 8 percent Latino and Asian) and 61 percent are female.  Fifty-four percent are between the ages of 20-29 years old.  Of the credit students enrolled at CCBC, nearly two-thirds are first-generation and/or low-income.

CCBC has 430 full-time faculty members and 600 part-time adjunct faculty with a 13:1 student to faculty ratio.

**Proposed Project**:  Building a Culture of Success:  Increasing Persistence, Retention, and Graduation

Building a Culture of Success**addresses the college’s core institutional goal to increase student engagement, persistence and graduation rates.  The implementation strategy uses a comprehensive approach that connects and supports three interwoven components:  developmental course reform; advising and intervention; and integrated enrollment services.

· **Developmental Course Reform** seeks to accelerate learning by “shortening” the developmental pipeline and sustaining a student’s academic momentum.  The Accelerated Learning Project pairs a developmental education course and required credit course together accelerating the student through the long pipeline of developmental courses.

· **Advising and Intervention** is an expanded assessment program that helps students develop dynamic academic plans and clarify career goals; and interval and faculty advising supports decision-making for short- and long-term academic goals.  An early alert system provides intervention and support services to identify students needing additional academic support.

· **Integrated Enrollment Services** restructures enrollment and student support services into a one-stop arrangement on all three campuses so that students rather than processes become the focal point.  Staff will be trained as cross-functional teams to improve continuity of student services campus-wide contributing to student success and increasing persistence.

*Building a Culture of Success* will create an integrated approach that breaks down the isolation and disconnectedness which contribute to students’ attrition and failure with a vigorous curricular reform, enhanced student support and advising, and a robust, interconnected system of student services.

By 2015, the fall-to-spring persistence rates for developmental education students will increase by 15 percent and completion of revised developmental courses will increase by 40 percent.  For all CCBC students, fall-to-fall retention rates will increase by ten percent and graduation rates by five percent – key performance measures of Title III.

# P031A110180 – Kennebec Valley Community College, Maine

Kennebec Valley Community College (KVCC) is a two-year public institution founded in 1969 and accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. It is one of seven community colleges in the Maine Community College System.  KVCC is located in Fairfield, in central Maine, twenty miles north of Augusta, the capital.  The primary service areas are Kennebec County, which is primarily urbanized, and Somerset County, which is primarily rural. Somerset County has one of the lowest post-secondary attainment rates, one of the lowest per capita incomes and one of the highest unemployment rates in Maine.  The college is situated in Somerset County. 

The college offers 28 Associate degrees in technical programs, one Associate in Arts in Liberal Studies degree and 13 one-year certificate programs.  The Associate in Arts degree was added in 2003 and signaled the transformation from a technical college to a community college.  The college is well-known for healthcare programs.  There are fourteen programs, four of which are unique to the state, such as Physical Therapy Assistant. 

Since becoming a community college, KVCC has almost doubled in size and the student demographics have changed considerably.  In the fall 2009, the college enrolled 1,654 students in degree programs, of which 68 percent are female.  The students are primarily part-time (55 percent) and aged 25 years or younger (59 percent).  The predominance of traditional aged students is a complete reversal of the typical student demographics prior to 2003 in which non-traditional aged students were 60 percent of the student population.  This reversal coincides with the community college transition.  The college has a high percent of first-generation students (70 percent) and 72 percent of the students receive some form of financial aid.  Ninety-eight percent of the students are white, reflecting the demographics of the region. 

KVCC employs 41 full-time and 103 adjunct faculty members.  The ratio of faculty to students is 1:29 and the faculty female to male ratio is 2:1.  The median age is 52 years.  The heavy emphasis on adjunct faculty reflects the change to a community college and the preponderance of female faculty reflects the emphasis on the healthcare programs. 

KVCC proposes to reverse steep declines in first-year student persistence and the three year graduation rate and to improve the transfer rate through adding and improving critical student services, adding academic support in science and math classes, and adding an institutional research system that will allow the college to better track cohort data in order to target student services.  The expected outcomes of the “Improving Persistence to Graduation and Transfer through Integrating Enhanced Student Support and Institutional Research” activity is to strengthen the capacity of the college to serve low-income students by increasing the first fall to second fall persistence rate; increasing the number of students who pass gateway science and math classes; increasing the graduation rate of second, third and fourth year students; and increasing the transfer rate.

**P031A110202 – Grand Rapids Community College, Michigan**

Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) is a two-year public institution accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA). GRCC offers 42 Associates in Arts and Associates in Science degree programs and more than 20 certificates of completion through its School of Arts and Sciences and School of Workforce Development.  Located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 77 percent of its winter, 2010 student population of 17,258 students, lived in its primary service area of Kent County. 

In winter 2010, GRCC student ethnicity representation was 72 percent Caucasian, 14 percent  African-American, seven percent Hispanic, three percent Asian, two percent unknown, and one percent Native American.  Of the total student population, 52 percent are female and 48 percent are male.  The average age of students is 26 years old and 34 percent are age 26 or older.  

GRCC's faculty is made up of 264 full-time instructors and more than 600 part-time adjunct instructors.  The average faculty to student ratio in winter, 2010 was 1:20.

GRCC’s Title III activity, the *College Success Program*, will focus on support for developmental students designed to meet three Title III Invitational Priorities:  (1) Support activities that will improve the institution’s persistence and graduation rates; (2) Develop strategies for using longitudinal data systems to track outcomes for students; and (3) Develop innovative support programs that are designed to increase completion rates.

With Michigan’s economy experiencing a tremendous decline, thousands seeking jobs in new high growth industries are realizing that some form of postsecondary education is needed, yet many lack the basic skills necessary to attend college.  Through analysis GRCC has determined that achievement of its mission and goals requires improved student success rates for the increasing number of entering students in this highly economically impacted area who are academically underprepared.  Through its Title III activity, GRCC will increase the entering and continuing developmental student information, with data used both for student and programmatic assessment and intervention.  Direct student support will be developed for refined entry diagnosis and advising, monitoring, and coaching, consistent with strategies identified by research and field experts.  Increased revenue from tuition and fees of additional retained students, combined with current and continued strategic budgeting for incrementally increasing financial support will, by 2015, lead to self-sufficiency and continuation of the College Success Program.  

By 2015, the College Success Program will achieve increased key student success outcomes:  (1) Increase the fall-to-fall persistence rates of new, degree- and certificate-seeking developmental students from 49 to 59 percent; (2) Increase the number of degree-seeking developmental students who graduate within three years from seven to 10 percent; (3) Increase the number of developmental students who receive a grade of “C” or better in developmental courses from 56 to 64 percent; (4) Increase the number of developmental students who receive a grade of “C” or better in gateway courses from 57 to 65 percent; (5) Increase the number of developmental students who complete 12 or more college-level credit hours from 61 to 68 percent; and (6) Increase the number of developmental students who complete 30 or more college-level credit hours from 36 to 40 percent.

# P031A110198 – Three Rivers Community College, Missouri

Three Rivers Community College (Three Rivers) is a comprehensive community college located in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.  The College’s expanded service area is a tri-state region of southeast and south central Missouri, northeast Arkansas, and west Tennessee.  The curriculum includes university–parallel programs that prepare the student to transfer to a four-year university and career/technical programs.  As an open-door admissions institution, the College’s mission is to provide “quality, accessible and affordable learning opportunities and services for academic scholarship and professional success.”  The Higher Learning Commission accredits Three Rivers to award associate degrees and certificates. 

Fall 2009 enrollment was 3,534.  Approximately 98 percent of the students reside in the expanded college service area and 78 percent of entering students enroll with below college level academic skills that require remediation.  The college faculty consists of 63 full-time and 114 adjunct instructors.  Of the full-time faculty, 16 percent hold doctorates; 76 percent hold Masters and eight percent hold Bachelor degrees or other specialized training that qualify them to teach in terminal career or developmental programs. 

The identification and analysis of weaknesses and problems of academic programs, institutional management, and fiscal stability led the college to identify a critical area it proposes to address with Title III funding.  The most critical need is to develop innovative curriculum and support services to better serve the large number of underprepared and “at-risk” students, thereby improving student learning outcomes in developmental and gatekeeper courses.  The proposed activity will have two components.  

The first is the development of a comprehensive “one-stop” **Academic Support Center (ASC)**that includes a comprehensive, flexible student support system.  Engaging students in alternative learning methods that meet individual student needs will also reduce the high attrition rates the College is currently experiencing.  Support services will include assessment, placement, intrusive advising, intervention strategies, instruction, and academic and other flexible support services for “at-risk” students.  The term “at-risk student” identifies those students academically underprepared for college-level work.**

The second component is a **Faculty Development for Course Redesign**program for faculty who teach developmental and gatekeeper courses to support and improve student learning through research-based teaching strategies that use innovative learning technologies such as electronically supported learning (e-Learning).  The outcomes for both components will be *improved student learning as reflected in higher student achievement, course and program retention and completion, and improved graduation and transfer rates*.

# P031A110189 – Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, North Carolina

**Activity Purpose:**  Improving student persistence, retention and graduation rates through intentional advising and academic interventions.

Rowan-Cabarrus Community College (RCCC) is a fully accredited, comprehensive, public two-year institution of higher learning and is a part of the state-supported North Carolina Community College System.  Located 35 miles northeast of Charlotte, RCCC offers 40 areas of study in both liberal arts and technical programs.  RCCC served approximately 7,000 curriculum students in 2009-10.  Student demographics include:  60 percent female; 70 percent white (22 percent black, 8 percent other); 63 percent full-time; and 37 percent less than 25 years of age.  RCCC employs 137 full-time faculty and 252 adjunct faculty yielding a student to faculty ratio of 18:1.

Based a comprehensive analysis, RCCC identified the following significant problems:  (1) RCCC’s persistence, retention and graduation rates are low; (2) students do not use academic or career advising; (3) too few faculty and staff are available to engage students in advising and academic interventions; and (4) funding is less than the identified need. 

With a desire to strengthen the institution, RCCC adopted two Title III goals:  (1) Improve student retention and graduation rates through intentional advising activities in the newly created Academic and Career Advising (ACA) Centers; and (2) Improve student persistence through intentional academic intervention activities.  Specific objectives to be accomplished by 2015 are: (1a) 50 percent of the total student population will participate in ACA Center activities; (1b) retention of full-time degree seeking students will increase from 50 to 54 percent; (1c) the college graduation rate will increase from 10 to 13 percent; (2a) student persistence for those engaged in early alert intervention activities will increase by six percent; and (2b) student persistence for those engaged in supplemental instruction intervention activities will increase by six percent.

Implementation will involve:  (1) creating a comprehensive academic and career advising center; and (2) initiating early alert and supplemental instruction activities.  Years one through three will focus on four advising components.  Years three through five will focus on two academic interventions.  The overall intention is to improve student persistence, retention and graduation.

The evaluation plan is comprehensive and focuses on process improvement.  It includes quantitative and qualitative measures; processes to improve data extraction; and means to evaluate the quality and impact of service delivery.  Assessments will be collected from both faculty and students.  All data will be compared to previous terms and years and to cohorts not receiving services.  The final analysis will provide the foundation for ongoing improvements and for strengthening the institution.

The total request for the five-year Title III budget is $1,851,180.  The total budget is divided into the following categories:  personnel - $1,008,652; fringe benefits - $213,404; travel - $51,525; supplies - $91,934; contractual - $215,665; and other (evaluation and endowment) - $275,600.

# P031A110199 – Western Piedmont Community College, North Carolina

Western Piedmont Community College (WPCC), is a two-year, comprehensive, non-residential, public, postsecondary institution serving rural Burke County in the foothills of Western North Carolina’s Appalachian Mountain region.  WPCC was established in 1964 and is governed by a 12-member Board of Trustees.  The college is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).  The college is an open door institution. 

WPCC awarded 366 associate degrees and recorded a curriculum enrollment of 4,169 students in 2008-2009 (2,400 full-time equivalent).  While the college’s primary service area is Burke County (population 89,361), students from surrounding counties also attend WPCC.

Student body characteristics in the fall 2009 show that 19 percent of students were either American Indian, Asian, Pacific Islander, Black, Non-Hispanic, and Hispanic while the remaining 81 percent were White, non-Hispanic.  Students were 62 percent female and 38 percent male.  Students ranged in age from 16 to 76 with 33 percent in the 18 to 21 years of age range and 38 percent over the age of 30.  WPCC employed 423 full-time and adjunct faculty teaching 725 courses resulting in a 1:17 faculty to student ration in fall 2009.  Programs are designated for college transfer, technical, and occupational students.  

The college requests $1,720,301 over five years to help solve persistent problems faced by the institution.  These problems include:  (1) the college does not provide a coordinated effort to create active, engaged learners; (2) students are underprepared in math and continue to experience academic difficulties in math while enrolled and after transfer; (3) students in online and hybrid courses are less successful than those in traditional classroom courses; (4) student graduation rates are too low; (5) the decentralized academic advising system design is not adequately meeting the needs of students; (6) faculty and staff require further training to effectively utilize existing technology and expand knowledge of distance learning technologies and instructional methodologies; and (7) the economic recession renders state and local governments incapable of adequately funding the college.

To address these problems, WPCC proposes a comprehensive activity plan of student engagement and professional development based on three goals and six measurable objectives.  These will:  (1) increase student knowledge of resources for personal or academic advising; (2) increase student engagement with the institution; (3) increase student success in mathematics courses; (4) increase student success in distance education courses; (5) increase faculty and staff knowledge and use of instructional technologies, instructional methodologies, and the advising process; and (6) increase the annual and three-year graduation rates.  

A Project Director, paid in part by Title III, will work closely with project staff to achieve and institutionalize the activity goals and objectives.  An external evaluator will assist the Project Director and WPCC’s Director of Planning and Research in formative and summative assessments to ensure all program goals and objectives are met.

# P031A110207 – Bismarck State College, North Dakota

**Bismarck State College (BSC), Bismarck,**is a member of the North Dakota University System with 300 full-time, 266 part-time, and 123 adjunct employees.  BSC serves 4,020 students and primary service populations include traditional aged students, individuals who seek career or degree advancement, collaborative students, and students in online programs.  BSC offers over 40 occupational programs and is one of the state’s leaders in online education, with 14 programs and more than 250 courses offered online. 

**Core Goal:**To strengthen institutional effectiveness by building institutional research and student assessment capacity to enable and support data-driven assessment, analysis and decision-making for academic and student services and institutional planning that result in increased student success.

**Major Outcomes:**Beginning with a thorough campus data inventory, BSC will be able to centralize critical data in order to allow data to drive decision making thus improving academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability; change the institutional patterns of decision-making; institutionalize the project’s outcomes and plan for sustaining the project once the federal funds are no longer available.  

**Students at BSC** are made up of the following according to fall 2009 data:  Male-2,274 (57 percent of total population); Female-1,728 (43 percent of total population); Unknown-18 (.45 percent of total population).  The **average age** of BSC’s student body is 22 years of age.  **Ethnic background** is broken down as the following:  Caucasian-3,394 (84.43 percent of total population); American Indian-116 (2.89 percent of total population); African-American-53 (2.89 percent of total population); Other-102 (2.48 percent of total population); and Unknown-357 (8.88 percent of total population).  Those students receiving **financial aid** represent 75 percent of the total population.  

There are 113 full-time **faculty members** at BSC and 173 adjunct/part-time faculty.  Of the total full-time faculty, ten have earned their Doctorate degree; Master’s degree-59; Bachelor’s degree-42; Other -22.  The **student to faculty** ratio is nineteen to one.

This project has nine objectives:  (**1)**complete the identification and centralization of existing data and information inventory; (**2)** provide institutional support and commitment; (**3)** determine the data required to track the student life cycle from pre-admission to completion (degree or certificate); (**4)** include a presentation on key performance indicators linkage to state longitudinal project data;  (**5)** implement training so that by year five, 90 percent of faculty, staff, and administrators are trained users of the data provided by Institutional Research as well as the use of a dashboard on the Web site; (**6)** plan “What If?” scenario process to incorporate relevant institutional data to drive strategic planning and allocation of institutional resources; (**7)** increase the number of instructional programs that have course and program outcomes that are reviewed, assessed, reported annually, and use feedback on the annual report to effectively “close the loop;” (**8)**increase the number of faculty, administrators, and staff who have access to meaningful data and use data; and (**9)** increase the percentage of faculty, staff, and administrators who agree that the college integrates data and research into decision making and planning processes.  

The total federal grant request is $1,932,549.

# P031A110179 – Daemen College, New York

Daemen College****is a private liberal arts college with strong professional programs and a predominantly undergraduate population.  Located in Amherst, a first-ring suburb of Buffalo,

New York, Daemen is a New York State non-profit corporation, accredited by the Commission

on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.  Buffalo is the

third poorest large city in the nation (U.S. Census 2008); most Daemen students (76 percent)

come from a radius of 100 miles or less of the City of Buffalo.  In the fall 2009, Daemen enrolled 2,413 students, 1,685 of whom are undergraduates.  Ninety percent of all undergraduate students received financial aid.  Seventy-seven percent of Daemen students are women, fifteen percent are minorities, and fifty percent of incoming first-year students are first-generation.  There are 100 full-time faculty and 158 part-time faculty; the student to faculty ratio is 15:1.

The 2006-11 Daemen Strategic Plan identifies poor retention and progression rates as a chronic

problem that is compounded by difficulties in identifying, tracking, and responding to students at

risk of failure.  The most recent data indicate that only 52.1 percent of full-time, first-time degree-seeking undergraduates completed their degree within six years.  This proposal offers strategies to improve information management, address the learning needs of our increasingly diverse  student body, and resolve problems with student progression and retention.  Endowment building to address severe fiscal problems is also part of this request.  The total request is $1,996,771.

**Activity –Strengthening Systems and Instruction to Support Student Success:**

This activity has four major initiatives to implement strategies to address the college’s chronic problems with retention and persistence:  (1) strengthening student information systems,

including the development of an Early Warning System and training for faculty and

administrators in the new administrative systems; (2) faculty development, including workshops

in high impact pedagogies, technology, and instructional methods for teaching under-prepared

students; a new technology classroom and instructional design administrator to support faculty

development and use of new technologies; revision of critical gateway courses; and workshops

in advising; (3) addition of strategic interventions and academic supports, including a Summer

Bridge Program; an annual remedial January Program for students who have deficiencies in

science and math gateways; a new Academic Orientation; and an Extended Orientation course

(Daemen 101); and (4) continuous improvement through systematic assessment.  A new Center

for Excellence in Retention and Learning (CERL) will serve as the axis on campus for the Title

III Activity, its components, and efforts relating to retention and persistence.

**Project Management and Evaluation:**

Strong project management is included in this proposal.  Data collection aligns with current

practices at Daemen and ensures that the college’s application is consistent with the

announced Program Performance Measures.  The data collection plan will:  (1) collect data that tracks, over the five-year period of the grant, the number of full-time, degree-seeking undergraduates who enroll at Daemen; (2) calculate the percentage of first-time, full-time undergraduate degree students who progress to the second year of study; and (3) determine the percentage of first-time, full-time undergraduate degree students who graduate within six years of enrollment.

# P031A110211 – Jefferson Community College, New York

**Service Area/Demographics:**Jefferson Community College (JCC) is located in upstate New York in the city of Watertown in Jefferson County.  It is a sparsely populated (a 2006 population estimate of 114,264), geographically isolated county with a population density of 87.8 persons per square mile.  JCC is the home of Fort Drum, the U. S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division with over 18,500 soldiers and 17,000 family members.  Jefferson Community College is the only institution of higher education within a fifty-mile radius of Watertown, New York.  The College’s geographic service area includes Jefferson, Lewis, southern St. Lawrence and northern Oswego Counties. 

**JCC Characteristics:**JCC is a two-year public community college sponsored by Jefferson County and supervised by the State University of New York.  Jefferson Community College is one of 64 campuses and one of 30 community colleges that comprise the State University of New York (SUNY) system. 

**Student and Faculty Characteristics:**In the fall 2008 semester, JCC’s total student enrollment were 3,176 students (headcount), with 1,761 full-time and 1,417 part-time students enrolled.  The current enrollment at JCC includes 2,096 students age under 18 to 24 and 992 students enrolled at the college ages 25 to 65.  Based on data from the JCC FACTBOOK, the vast majority of the student population (2,409 students) at JCC has identified themselves as Caucasian.  There are 139 African-American students, 94 Hispanic students, 36 Asian students and 27 American Indian students enrolled at JCC.  However, the ethnic-racial identity of 471 students was not documented and is unknown.  There are 216 full-time faculty and 115 adjunct faculty employed at Jefferson Community College.  The current faculty to student ratio at JCC is approximately one faculty member to every five students enrolled at the College. 

# Title III Activity and Objectives:  Grant funds from the U.S. Department of Education’s Strengthening Institutions Program will provide the necessary resources for Jefferson Community College’s proposed project, Strengthening Student Success to meet community educational needs (specifically to reach active duty soldiers); create an engaged student learning environment and expand programs and services to improve the college’s academic quality by increasing freshman retention and persistence.  The Strengthening Institutions Program grant will also provide the resources to improve the college’s ability to access institutional data from the student information system (Banner) which will improve academic, institutional management and fiscal decision-making.  

# Furthermore, grant funds will build the college’s endowment with matching funds to strengthen the fiscal stability of the institution, increase the college’s self-sufficiency and strengthen JCC’s capacity to meet the long term strategic priorities of the institution.

# P031A110209 – Jamestown Community College, New York

Jamestown Community College (JCC) is a public  two-year college in southwestern New York State that enrolls approximately 3900 students (headcount).  JCC students pursue more than 50 academic programs within 18 liberal arts transfer degrees, 16 technical program degrees and 20 certificate programs.  To meet the needs of its expansive and largely rural service area, JCC is comprised of two campuses, the Jamestown Campus and the Cattaraugus County Campus, as well as extension sites in Dunkirk, New York, and Warren, Pennsylvania.  JCC also offers courses in Salamanca, New York. 

The primary service population has a history of economic distress with high levels of poverty.  Median household income levels are more than 20 percent below the state average.  JCC is an extremely valuable resource to the region, providing opportunities that not only result in higher earnings for graduates, but also in savings from reduced welfare and unemployment rates.  The student body is 44 percent men and 56 percent women.  The average student age is 25 years.  More than one-third are first-generation college students and 8.5 percent are minority students.  The college employs 79 full-time faculty and 300 part-time faculty.  The faculty to student ratio is 1:17. 

Based on a thorough analysis of its strengths, weaknesses and problems, the college is requesting Title III funds to strengthen advising, strengthen student technology competencies, and strengthen access to higher education in the region.  This will be accomplished through:  (a) the implementation of a new “achievement coach” model of advisement; (b) the implementation of current technologies in five key programs and the development of student technology competency assessments; and (c) the expansion of both synchronous and asynchronous distance learning offerings, including four bachelor’s degrees offered in partnership with area four-year colleges.

Key measures of success will be to:  (a) increase retention of first-time, full-time students on the Cattaraugus County Campus by five percent; (b) increase retention of first-time, full-time developmental students by three percent; (c) increase the percentage of students in five key programs who demonstrate proficiency in current technologies in their field to 90 percent; (d) increase registrations in distance learning courses by 200 students; and (e) increase the number of students pursuing bachelor’s degrees through the establishment of a “communiversity” to 50.  

The total budget request of $1,999,424 includes endowment support in year five in the amount of $100,000.  The increased endowment revenue will assist in meeting ongoing costs for maintenance and upgrades of technology.

# P031A110217 – Northeastern State University, Oklahoma

Founded on the rich educational heritage of the Cherokee Nation, Northeastern State University’s (NSU) main campus is surrounded by an impoverished, underserved and isolated 20 county service area.  The student demographics of NSU are striking in that well over half of the student population is either impoverished, first-generation or minority (primarily American Indian) individuals.  It is absolutely imperative that we increase the number of degree holders in this region for both economic and personal development reasons.

Northeastern State University proposes the formation, staffing and facilitation of a centralized Student Academic Success Center (SASC).  The purpose of this center is to provide for initial and continuing multimodal contact with NSU’s high-risk and minority students in order to increase retention and graduation rates.  Further, the center’s purpose will also serve as a referral and follow-up hub for all other student academic and co-curricular service operations.  The main center components of learning assessment, academic advising, career development and referral/follow up will be targeted towards the high risk and minority students.  It will also be available to all first-time, full-time and transfer students throughout their tenure at NSU.  In this way, it is believed that NSU will be able to not only increase retention and completion, but will also be able to provide for the assurance that all NSU students have the support necessary to receive academic, career, and other advising services.  The center will also serve as a university hub to track and monitor students so that the opportunity to “fall through the cracks” will be minimized.  The need and impact of such a centralized advising process as well as referral and follow-up services cannot be overstated as invaluable to NSU’s student demographics and the ultimate goals of persistence, degree completion and regional economic and talent and stewardship; a hallmark of NSU’s mission and vision.

The Student Academic Success Center staff will provide academic program consultation, referrals and follow up.  Professional staff members will serve as general education course advisors and degree consultants in partnership with academic colleges.  Designated faculty members from each college will commit to standard year round office hours in the Student Academic Success Center.  The Student Academic Success Center professional staff and faculty will provide student consultation on academic program requirements, career options in field of study, and academic related information for designed colleges.  The purpose of academic consultation services is to improve academic advising and support services by incorporating an intentional approach that provides personalized, targeted, individual support for our minority students.  

The Student Academic Success Center will coordinate two programs and one team under Student Outreach and Integration.  The purpose of Student Outreach and Integration is to strategically coordinate retention efforts of our minority students through personal connections, team work, and technology.  The Student Academic Success Center will develop and coordinate Mentoring Program designed to match minority students with minority faculty and staff mentors.  The Mentor Program will connect students, faculty and staff with similar interests and backgrounds.  The Mentor Program will provide intentional opportunities for mentor and mentees to connect throughout the academic year.  In addition, the Mentor Program will provide mentor development programs focused on student development and campus resources to aid students in personal success.

# P031A110187 – Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma

Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City (OSU-OKC) is a public, open-door, two-year institution accredited by the North Central Association of the Higher Learning Commission.   Begun in 1961 as an extension of the historic main campus in Stillwater, OSU-OKC was established to provide technical training for students in the Oklahoma City industrial area.  Now approaching 50 years of service, OSU-OKC has evolved into a major comprehensive, urban community college offering an array of programming—including one Bachelor of Technology degree program, 34 Associate of Applied Science degree programs, seven Associate of Science degree programs, and five certificate programs.  OSU-OKC serves a population of 1,070,961 living in Oklahoma, Canadian and Cleveland counties.  From 2000 to 2009, minorities (36 percent) accounted for all of the 8.5 percent growth seen in Oklahoma County (population 716,704) [Census, 2009].  Economic hardship is a way of life in Oklahoma City, especially for the 12.5 percent of Caucasians, 25.6 percent of African-Americans, and 32.5 percent of Hispanics living below poverty level.

**Student Body Characteristics (fall 2009):** OSU-OKC students are predominantly urban, low-income and working.  Most intend to transfer to area four-year universities or work towards one of 40 degree options available at OSU-OKC.  Total headcount—7,179 (65 percent part-time); average age—27 years; female—58 percent; minority—31 percent; financial aid recipients—42 percent; working—77 percent; with children—55 percent; enrolled online—38 percent; with basic skills deficiencies—51 percent.   **Faculty Characteristics (fall 2009):**  Full-time—82; part-time—259; female (full-time)—48 percent; male (full-time)—52 percent; minority—36 percent; faculty to student ratio—1:42.

A soaring 21 percent increase in headcount enrollment (5,912 to 7,179) between fall 2008 and fall 2009 overloaded OSU-OKC faculty and pushed our facilities to the limit.  With 8,000                                                                     students expected in fall 2010, expanding alternative methodologies of course delivery is essential.  However, a funding crisis has brought all instructional development efforts to a halt—thereby, jeopardizing the fulfillment of our purpose *“to prepare individuals to live and to work in an increasingly technological and global community”*(OSU-OKC Mission Statement, 2010).

**Proposed Title III Activity:**In order to strengthen our institution and increase our capacity to serve low-income and other disadvantaged students, OSU-OKC proposes *Expanding Access to High-Demand STEM Programs*—a multi-faceted, Title III activity to convert 35 high-demand courses, each with a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM) emphasis to online and/or hybrid delivery, and to develop six online student services (online readiness assessment, orientation, registration, tutoring, library resources, and advising).  To ensure successful development of new distance learning courses, OSU-OKC will acquire essential media servers, additional storage capacity, and instructor-friendly classroom capture equipment.  In addition, a Faculty Resource Center will be established and equipped where faculty will receive training in new distance learning technologies, instructional strategies, and best practices.

Our proposed project addresses the following **Title III Invitational Priorities**:  Support activities that will improve the institution’s persistence and graduation rates; develop academic programs to improve course completion rates or develop innovative support programs that are designed to increase completion rates.  

**Total Five-Year Request:** $1,992,708.

# P031A110174 – Southern Nazarene University, Oklahoma

**Profile of Institution:**Southern Nazarene University (SNU), founded in 1899 and located in Bethany (population:  19,767), Oklahoma, is an open admission, four-year, faith-based, private university of the liberal arts that is affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene System of Higher Education.  Enrollment at SNU is open to all qualified students desiring higher education in a Christian environment.  SNU offers more than 70 undergraduate academic majors or concentrations in the liberal arts, sciences and professions.  In addition, SNU has an adult undergraduate degree completion program (Professional Studies) with eight undergraduate program tracks in professional fields, along with graduate studies. 

**Primary Service Population:**The primary service population is students from Oklahoma (68 percent), with another 17 percent drawn from the surrounding three-state area of Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana.  SNU serves both traditional-aged students and adult students, a large proportion of whom are low-income or first-generation or both.

**Student Body Characteristics:**In fall 2009, SNU’s total headcount enrollment of 2,110 students consisted of 1,143 traditional undergraduates, 510 non-traditional degree completion undergraduates (Professional Studies), and 457 graduate students.  Almost half (44 percent) of undergraduates are low income, with 95 percent receiving financial aid.  The male/female ratio is balanced at 47 percent male and 53 percent female.  More than two-thirds of undergraduate students (71 percent) work more than 10 hours per week; fewer than half (47 percent) are residential.  SNU’s ethnic diversity is greater than that of the surrounding community, increasing from 20 percent to 24 percent from 2005 to 2009.  The average age of undergraduate students is 25.7.

**Faculty Characteristics:**SNU has 74 full-time and 124 part-time/adjunct faculty.  The student-to-faculty ratio is 17:1.

**Project Description:**Increasing Access Through Distance Education--In response to student demand for online access to SNU’s recognized fields of study and to address declining enrollments, the******Increasing Access Through Distance Education project proposes to develop 44 online courses in General Education and the high-demand fields of Business and Leadership, Allied Health/Nursing and Criminal Justice/Sociology over five years.  The project also includes significant faculty and staff training, a Faculty Studio for course development, developing essential online student services (such as online registration, financial aid, tutoring, career services, and advising), as well as purchasing the necessary equipment and software to develop, pilot and support the online courses and services proposed. 

**Funding Request:**The total funding requested for the five-year grant period is $1,999,322.

# P031A110196 – Northwestern Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma

Northwestern Oklahoma State University (NWOSU) has served the people of rural northwest Oklahoma for over 100 years.  From its humble beginnings as a normal school founded by rugged pioneers on the windswept plains of Oklahoma Territory in 1897, the institution has evolved into a multi-campus university mandated by the state legislature to provide post-secondary education to citizens in a service area larger than the State of Connecticut.  As the only baccalaureate and master’s granting institution for over 100 miles in any direction, the University serves a population that is isolated not only geographically, but also culturally and academically.

Northwestern’s main campus is located in Alva, Oklahoma, a community populated by 5,280 residents located 150 miles northwest of Oklahoma City and 100 miles southwest of Wichita, Kansas.  Situated 14 miles from the Kansas border, and approximately 114 miles from the Texas border, the University also serves students from those two states.  Northwestern operates two branch campuses; one in Enid located 72 miles southeast of Alva, and one in Woodward, 71 miles southwest of Alva.  The Woodward campus offers a full array of classes while the Enid campus only offers upper division coursework.  These three campuses serve 10 Oklahoma counties including Alfalfa, Ellis, Garfield, Grant, Harper, Kay, Major, Noble, Woods and Woodward.

**Problems**:  Northwestern’s fall-to-fall retention rate for at-risk students is too low.  Students who come to Northwestern with American College Testing (ACT) composite scores below 23 persist at a rate of only 49 percent while students with ACT scores of 23 or above persist at a rate of 74 percent.  Analysis has revealed that this target population of at-risk students encounters barriers to success in the form of gateway courses where enrollments are high and success rates are low.  These courses include not only remedial education courses, but also required general education courses.  Students also encounter faculty advisors who are too burdened with heavy teaching loads, committee assignments, and other institutional responsibilities to allow them to form meaningful relationships with students during their initial year of study, at a time when students are in greatest need of mentoring.  These problems all contribute to Northwestern’s low six-year graduation rate of 37.5 percent as compared to the national average of 56.1 percent.

**Purpose of Activity**:  NWOSU’s SIP project, *Academic Success for At-Risk Students*, will provide a single, integrated activity to increase student success by improving advising, redesigning gateway courses with high enrollment and low success rates, and increasing opportunities for faculty development.  To accomplish these goals we will create an Academic Advising Center staffed by professional advisors who will use GradesFirst applications to provide intrusive, case-management style advising to the identified population of at-risk students on not only academic issues, but also career and life issues at a time when they need it most.  We will also provide incentives and training opportunities for faculty members to participate in redesign of gateway courses to incorporate new and innovative strategies not to reduce academic expectations, but to help at-risk students meet with success.

# P031A110178 – Immaculata University, Pennsylvania

This a private, four-year institution located outside of Philadelphia that serves approximately 4,300 students and offers programs in the liberal arts tradition as well as programs of professional study.  It was founded in 1920 as a women’s college, and has since grown into three colleges that serve distinct populations: traditional full-time undergraduate students, non-traditional undergraduate adult learners and graduate students.  The traditional full-time undergraduates are served by the College of Undergraduate Studies, which remained women-only until fall of 2005.  Since becoming co-educational, enrollment has increased by 112 percent. The college enrolls 32 percent men and 68 percent women, 13 percent minority students and 46 percent first-generation students.  The average student age is 20.1 years.  The faculty to student ratio is 1:11.  The university has 103 full-time faculty and 308 adjuncts. 

The rapid enrollment growth that has taken place since becoming co-educational, although necessary to strengthen the University, has exceeded the capacity of existing student support structures and is compromising student success.  Based on a thorough analysis of institutional strengths, weaknesses and problems, the university is proposing a single, comprehensive activity with three components to resolve its key problems: 

**Component One:**Strengthen and integrate Academic Advising, Academic Support and Academic Enrichment under a new center (“Pathways Center”).  The Pathways Center will host a centrally-coordinated infrastructure that integrates academic support, academic advising and academic enrichment activities and integrates career development throughout the academic advisement process in all four years. 

**Component Two:**Expand and strengthen career services and the co-curricular experience for commuters and residential students.****Career services and co-curricular experiences will be strengthened through electronic career portfolios, expanded First Year Experience and Sophomore Year Experience programs and the development of Special Interest Learning Communities.

**Component Three:**College-wide faculty/staff/administrative development to bring about culture change.****Extensive professional development activities will generate a culture change that establishes a university-wide priority to support student retention and guide students in creating individual career paths. 

Key measures of success will include:  increasing fall-to-fall full-time freshmen to sophomore retention by seven percent; increasing fall-to-fall full-time freshmen to junior retention by five percent; increasing fall-to-fall full-time transfer student retention by five percent; decreasing freshman and sophomores on academic probation by five percent; increasing  students participating in one or more academically enriching activities by 100 percent; and increasing students declaring majors by end of freshman year by 10 percent. 

The five year $1,918,593 budget includes endowment support in four of the five years:  Year one, $23,000, Year two, $27,500, Year four, $94,000 and Year five, $100,000.  The increased endowment revenue will assist in meeting ongoing costs of expanded student support services.

# P031A110206 – Cedar Crest College, Pennsylvania

**Institutional Information:**Cedar Crest College is an independent, comprehensive liberal arts college for women, located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, with a growing number of adult undergraduate and graduate programs serving women and men.  The college grants bachelor degrees in 30 major fields, with programs in forensic science, pre-law, pre-medicine, pre-dentistry, and pre-veterinary medicine.  The college offers minors in 30 areas of study, as well as seven post-baccalaureate certificate programs and master’s degree programs in forensic science, education, and nursing.

**Student Body Characteristics:**Total enrollment for fall 2009 was 1,887 (1,685 undergraduate and 202 graduate students).  Among undergraduates, 967 are full-time; of them, 98 percent are women.  Among all undergraduates, 23 percent are under age 20; 36 percent are ages 20-24, and 41 percent are ages 25 and over (with less than one percent ages unknown).  Among all undergraduates, 78 percent are white/non-Hispanic; 7 percent are black/non-Hispanic; 7 percent are Hispanic, and the remainder other races or ethnic groups.  Approximately 50 percent of first-time, full-time students are first-generation college attendees.

**Faculty Characteristics:** Cedar Crest College employs 87 full-time faculty and 67 part-time/adjunct faculty, with a student-to-faculty ration of 11:1.

**Significant Problem:**Fall-to-fall retention of first-time, full-time students, along with low persistence to graduation.  Issues contributing to this problem include a high percentage of incoming students unprepared for college-level courses; a low number of pre-college and first-year programs to address this issue and adequately assess the needs of at-risk students; and low engagement among multicultural students, in particular.  The low number of distance-learning courses, programs, and services, along with faculty unprepared to develop these offerings, contribute to inadequate access to learning for many of these students, as well as the adult student population at the college.

**Title III Project:**Strengthening Access, Retention, and Student Success at an Undergraduate Women’s College.****This single Title III activity consists of two components:  (1) development and implementation of enhanced academic services, courses, and programs to increase student engagement, retention, and persistence to graduation for first-time, full-time students; and (2) development and implementation of distance-learning and technology-enhanced classrooms, courses, services, and programs to increase access to education to full- and part-time students. By September 30, 2015, this project will increase:  (1) the fall-to-fall retention rate of first-time, full-time students; (2) the six-year graduation rate of first-time, full-time students; (3) the number of faculty prepared to develop online and technology-enhanced courses and the number of such courses developed; and (4) the total number of students enrolled at the college.

**The Request:**  Cedar Crest College is requesting $2,000,000 in Title III funding over a five-year period to implement its project, with more than 88 percent of funding in support of faculty development and course and program development implementation.  The remainder of funding will support equipment and supplies, primarily in the area of information technology.

**P031A110184 – Pennsylvania Highlands Community College, Pennsylvania**

Pennsylvania Highlands Community College (PHCC*)*a comprehensive, public two-year institution located in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was created in 1993 to bring the State’s public two-year higher education system to a region which consistently has the State’s highest unemployment and its lowest per capita income.  In fall 2009, 23 full-time and 89 part-time faculty served 2,559 students (1,770 full-time equivalent (FTE)):  57 percent female, 43 percent male; average age of 26; 80 percent on financial assistance; 90 percent Caucasian 10 percent minority.  Degree-seeking students comprise 598 percent of enrollments; 41 percent of all students are enrolled as non-degree seeking. 

In response to the problems related to retention, second year programming, course and program development and with a strong commitment to institutional improvement, the staff, faculty, management, and students of PHCC have engaged in a rigorous examination of the institution’s strengths and weaknesses, specifically those affecting our second-year students.  During this extensive and exhaustive planning process, issues of inclusion, transfer, student services, academic enrichment, retention, data management, and resource development emerged as the college’s top priorities.  The two components of the Activity, *strengthening student support services*and *academic programs*, are supported by faculty development and institutional research.  This project has grown from the planning process and will integrate and systemize the college’s ability to address the needs of students, assess their capabilities, provide suitable support, and realign academic courses and programs to suit the needs of the students, community and local employers, without which the college will not be able to remain a viable institution of education for the community. 

**Activity, Strengthening PHCC to Improve Retention and Graduation:****Objectives are in key areas including:  three-year graduation rate; fall to fall retention of first-time, full-time students; college growth - as measured by increased FTE; strengthen advising measured by implementation of *Career and Educational Plans*for fulltime students completing 20 credits; and improvements in Noel Levitz Student Survey as a measure of faculty and staff development to improve student engagement in the college and their learning. 

Component One:  Strengthen the Quality and Capacity of Student Support Services**includes: Orientation, Advising, Career Development Center, Improved First Year Student Experiences; Development of Support for Second-Year Students and Transfer Services. 

Component Two:  Strengthen Quality and Scope of Academic Programs**includes: Comprehensive curriculum review to eliminate outdated courses and programs and plan for new ones, realigning to needs of students and community; Improved articulation for transfer; and  Development of second year curriculum. 

**Project Management and Evaluation**:  Strong management and evaluation plans are included in this proposal.  The external evaluator is a nationally known expert in Title III.  All costs support the institutional priorities of the program and the endowment challenge will provide for scholarships and support of students for decades. 

**Projected Five Year Costs:  $1,953,084**

**P031A110213 – Piedmont Technical College, South Carolina**

Piedmont Technical College (PTC), Greenwood, South Carolina, is a public, open-door, comprehensive, two-year community college serving seven South Carolina counties, the largest and most diverse of the state’s 16 technical college districts.  Disadvantage is pervasive:  per capita incomes are 79 percent of the national average, poverty as high as 24 percent, and bachelor’s-degreed residents only about two-thirds of the nation’s.  African-Americans, one-third of the population, have only 60 percent and 36 percent, respectively, of Caucasians’ earnings and educational attainment (*Self-reported; PTC 2009)*.  PTC’s students reflect area disadvantage, most with traits signaling risk for failure in college, notably financial need, first-generation status, and poor preparation for college-level study.  Yet, PTC has worked hard to support our students, and they have responded:  overall re-enrollment and completion rates, for example, compare well with state and national averages.

However, important groups have far lower success rates than PTC’s averages:  at-risk students in key preparatory Health Sciences curricula, high-demand Engineering programs, and transfer-directed Associate of Science (AS) programs in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM); and undecided students who may have undiscovered interest and ability in STEM fields.  While PTC’s support is available to these students, what are missing are critical structures that give cohesion to at-risk students’ preparation for high-opportunity technical careers.  

PTC therefore proposes a project entitled Supporting Opportunities in STEM, or SOS, to shape Individual Graduation Plans (IGPs) based on comprehensive individual assessments and specifying case-managed academic and support services for each student.  Classroom and online First-Year Experience courses for Health Sciences, Engineering Tech, and AS students, Financial Aid/Literacy Support, and Learning Communities (including partnership in Clemson University’s Call Me MISTER program) for each target field will further structure participants’ support.  Activity Objectives call for raising participants’ re-enrollment and completion rates to equal all students’ with a rigorous evaluation plan to track the achievement of project results.  Endowment is requested to help sustain SOS programs and services after funding. 

SOS aligns with PTC’s mission, to “transform lives and strengthen communities by providing opportunities for intellectual and economic growth.”  Governed by an Area Commission of 12 community leaders, PTC is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and offers a wide range of Associate of Arts, Science, and Applied Science degree and technical certificate programs.  PTC also provides continuing education, workforce development, and other programs to respond to area needs.  SOS represents a significant step in expanding our service to our students and the area we are committed to support.

**P031A110185 – Cleveland State Community College, Tennessee**

**Overview:**Since 2004 the Cleveland State Community College (CSCC) has demonstrated success through a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), entitled “Student Involvement:  A Key to Learning.”   The mission of the QEP is to enhance student learning through student involvement activities.  As a measure of accountability, an annual update of progress has been required by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) through Performance Funding and the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) through the Strategic Plan.  In 2009 Southern Association of Colleges and Schools--Commission on Colleges (SACS--COC) required a five-year interim report on the QEP.  In each case the QEP was deemed to be successful in its mission.  Since the inception of the QEP, the college has expanded student engagement activities within the limits of budget constraints.  It is the desire of the college to expand student engagement activities though recent budget cutbacks threaten success.  This *Title III project focuses on student engagement and service learning activities that mesh well with the QEP mission of fostering student involvement in the learning.*

**College Background:**  Cleveland State Community College is a comprehensive two-year community college which is located in the scenic Appalachian mountain range of Southeast Tennessee in Cleveland, Tennessee.  CSCC is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.  It is the mission of the college to provide accessible, responsive, and quality educational opportunities to the rural and urban communities within five-county serve area (Bradley, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe and Polk) as designated by the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR).  Credentialing is approved by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) and TBR:  (1) **Associate of Arts or Associates of Science degree**– Intended for seamless articulation into junior status at a four-year college or university.  (2) **Associate of Applied Science degree** – Designed for school-to-work transition in a specialized field within two years.  (3) **Certificates –** Designed for specialized credentialing within a one to two semester timeframe.  

**Student Demographics:** CSCC’s fall 2009 semester full-time equivalent (FTE) at 2504 and the spring 2010 semester FTE at 2329 were the highest in the forty-plus year history of the college.  The five-county service area population lacks ethnic diversity (seven percent non-white) yet the college’s ethnically diverse population (14 percent) doubled that of the general population in fall 2009.  Gender distribution has held steady at 61 percent female and 39 percent male over the past five years.  

**Faculty:**The number of full-time faculty (69) and part-time faculty (118) has remained relatively steady for the past five years at 69.  Due to an increase enrollment the faculty-to-student ratio increased from 16:1 in fall 2005 to 18.1 in fall 2009. 

**P031A110205 – Clark College, Washington**

Clark College is a public community college, established in 1933 and located in Vancouver, in the southwest region of the state.  Clark serves three counties:  Clark County, Skamania County, and the western section of Klickitat County.  The population of the service district is almost one-half million people and is expected to grow another eight percent over the next five years.  It is one of 34 community and technical colleges in a system under the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.  In 2008-2009, the college served more than 20,000 students accounting for almost 9,000 (8,819) credit full-time equivalent students.

Clark College is a comprehensive college offering both career and technical education (CTE) and academic programs in addition to its adult basic education and corporate and continuing education programs.  Of the credit students enrolled at Clark College, 43 percent are CTE; 40 percent are academic--transfer; 10 percent are adult basic education; and 7 percent are other.  Slightly more than half (52 percent) are part-time students.  Half of Clark College students are non-traditional (ages 25 and older); and 59 percent of credit students are female.  The students are more racially diverse than the community it serves; almost 25 percent are students of color compared to 16 percent of the population within the community.  The largest student of color populations are Hispanic (nine percent), followed by Asian and Pacific Islander (five percent).  

A significant benefit to students attending Clark College is the low but efficient student faculty ratio, especially given the types of CTE programs offered.  In 2008, the college student faculty ratio was 21.  Clark College also has a number of both full- and part-time faculty.  Clark College employed 540 part-time instructors in 2008-2009, representing 210 full-time equivalent teaching faculty.  The college employed 199 full-time faculty, representing 207 full-time equivalent teaching faculty in 2008-2009.

Clark College seeks the Title III, Strengthening Institutions, grant to increase completion rates through implementation of educational program review and assessment, improvement of advising, and provision of enhanced teaching and learning innovations and support services.  The college is submitting this Title III proposal under two of the four invitational priority areas:

1. Invitational Priority 1:  Support activities that will improve the institution’s persistence and graduation rates.

2. Invitational Priority 3:  Develop academic programs to improve course completion rates or develop innovative support programs that are designed to increase completion rates.

If funded, completion rates and student success will increase due to the tremendous improvements in educational programs, advising, and teaching and learning innovations and support services made possible by the funding.  The strategies to make that happen pertain to:  (1) implementing continuous improvement processes especially within the degrees offered by the college; (2) strengthening the programming and infrastructure of key support services; and (3) implementing information technology solutions that will expand access, efficiencies, and effectiveness of processes and support services.  All expenses funded by Title III funds are temporary to the grant period or build and institutionalize processes, faculty training resources, curriculum, and technological tools. 

**P031A110192 – Bellingham Technical College, Washington**

**Institutional Background:**  Bellingham Technical College (BTC) was founded in 1957, serving Whatcom County adults as Bellingham Vocational Technical Institute (BVTI) under the operation of the Bellingham School District.  In 1991, the institution was designated a member of the Washington State Community and Technical College system as Bellingham Technical College.  BTC is located in the port city of Bellingham, along the Canadian border in the extreme northwest corner of Washington State, approximately 90 miles north of Seattle and 60 miles south of Vancouver, British Columbia.  The college is located in a district of 2,210 square miles with a population of over 174,000, averaging 78 people per square mile.  The majority of BTC students are from Whatcom County, the 12th largest county (out of 39 counties) in Washington State, and one of the fastest growing counties in the state.  BTC is one of the smallest public two-year colleges in Washington.  The college offers 34 Associates of Applied Science degrees and 57 certificate options. 

**Title III Activity**:  Transforming the Curriculum and Student Outcomes Through eLearning, Degree and Certificate Development, Online Services and Documenting Institutional Effectiveness.

This Title III project will:  **(1)** Expand Online and Hybrid Learning through Faculty Professional Development; **(2)**Expand Assessment of Institutional Effectiveness;**(3)**Development of Online Student Services; and **(4)**Enhance Academic Core and Supporting Student Success. 

The project addresses **tie-breaker priorities** in response to:  **(1)** faculty development; **(2)** administrative management; **(3)** development and improvement of academic programs; **(4)** acquisition of equipment for use in strengthening funds management; and **(5)** strengthening student services.

**Student Body Characteristics:**

**Total Fall Headcount Enrollment****(2009):**3,611

**Undergraduate Student Age:******60 percent****25 and over; 34 percent 24 and under.  

**Average Age:**  34

**Ethnicity:**  White, Non-Hispanic-61.4 percent; Black Non-Hispanic-1.6 percent; Hispanic-4.7 percent; Asian and Pacific Islander-2.8 percent; American Indian and Alaskan Native-2.2 percent; Non-resident Alien-0.1 percent.

**Gender:****Female**—53.3 percent; 3,592; **Male**—46.7 percent; 3,153.

**Faculty Characteristics:**

**Faculty to Student Ratio:**  1:18 **Fall 2009 Faculty:** Full-Time-66; Part-Time-128.

**Five-Year Project Budget:**  $2,000,000.

**P031A110191 – Chippewa Valley Technical College, Wisconsin**

Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC) in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, is a public two-year institution, serving 11 counties in west-central Wisconsin. Granting associate degrees, technical diplomas, and certificates, CVTC strives to deliver superior, progressive technical education which improves the lives of students, meets the workforce needs of the region, and strengthens the larger community.  In the 2008-09 school year, 16,850 students attended CVTC, totaling 5,506 full-time equivalencies (FTEs).  Of these students, eight percent were racial minorities, five percent were disabled, and 52 percent were low-income.  The student body was 49 percent female and 51 percent male, with an average age of 26.  The college employs 564 faculty (237 full-time, 327 adjunct), with a faculty to student ratio of 15:1. 

One third of CVTC students are at risk for failure in postsecondary education.  These students lack access to resources to prepare them for college success and degree attainment.  CVTC will pursue one overall goal in this Title III Strengthening Institutions Program five-year individual development grant:  **to increase the retention rate of program students from 48 to 55 percent, and to increase the graduation rate from 45 to 50 percent**.  By boosting the performance of the at-risk student population at CVTC, college wide retention and graduation rates will increase. 

**Objectives:**

Implement cognitive and, or non-cognitive intervention strategies for all new program students deemed “at-risk” by assessments by September 30, 2012 and evaluate their effectiveness by September 30, 2015. 

Increase the successful course completion rate of program students in Prepared Learner (PL) courses from 65 percent to 75 percent by September 30, 2015. 

Increase the successful course completion rate of program students in gatekeeper courses from 68.6 percent to 78.6 percent by September 30, 2015. 

**Strategies:**

Assessment and Advisement – We will develop individual Student Success Plans (SSPs) for at-risk students.  The SSPs will direct students to specific interventions tailored to address cognitive and non-cognitive risk factors reflected in assessment results. 

Targeted Interventions – We will develop targeted interventions for at-risk students such as mentorship, financial literacy, flexible developmental education options, supplemental education, and first semester orientation and experience. 

Professional Development – We will provide professional development to faculty and staff who interact with underprepared learners so they may address student needs using the most current, effective, and practical methods at their disposal. 

The project will be managed by a Project Coordinator and implemented by an Activity Director. Other major costs include an external evaluator, a Transition Specialist to implement interventions for at-risk students, faculty appointments for mentorships, curriculum development and teaching underprepared learners, student wages for supplemental instruction and peer tutoring, and the purchase of a Student Success Database and online orientation system.

**P031A110214 – Western Technical College, Wisconsin**

Western Technical College****(Western) located in La Crosse, is a public two-year technical college, one of 16 in the Wisconsin Technical College System.  Western offers 43 associate degree and 23 technical diploma programs with an associate degree headcount of 5,235 students. This population comes primarily from within the district, has a median age of 22 years, and is mainly of White ethnicity (88 percent) and female (60 percent).  Western employs 212 full-time faculty members several hundred adjunct faculty teaching each semester; the faculty-to-student ratio is about 17:1.

**Description of Activity:**Western’s Activity, **The Pathway to 2020**, is designed to address key goals and challenges the institution faces as it develops its *Vision 2020*—its ideal “dream state” of inclusive student culture, programming, readiness to offer cutting edge curriculum, and uniform, effective systems and processes.  The Activity supports an essential piece of this effort: to improve and expand **faculty development** to create a more adaptable, learner-centered institution.  It funds the design and opening of a fully-resourced Teaching and Learning Center which will house aligned professional development activities and encourage new and veteran faculty to engage with teaching and learning pedagogy in innovative ways.  A Faculty Institute for new faculty will be developed to prepare them to be part of a collaborative space in the classroom.  Endowment funds will be grown to create a Faculty Innovation Fund, to provide an easily accessible, permanent pool of money to fund release time for faculty who want to pursue special projects, lead a grant activity, or create a new classroom methodology.

The activity pairs these central components with systems alignment of both student assessment and data use, with the understanding that we cannot expect faculty to improve student success if they do not fully understand who it is they are partnering with in the classroom.  A Data Cube will be developed to access the college’s currently under-utilized records and provide a tool that will use strengthened, comprehensive student assessments to provide faculty with a Classroom Snapshot, a one-page, graphic representation of students in a particular class by need or learning style.  

**Project Management and Impact:**The Vice-President of Instruction will oversee the Activity as Title III Coordinator; the Director of Counseling will move to serve as Activity Director as a full-time commitment.  Formative evaluation will be conducted each mid-year by an independent, internal evaluation team followed with summative end-of-year evaluation in each of the five years by an independent external evaluator.  Evaluation will focus on the success of all Activity Objectives outlined by year and by Focus Area—the principle components that will achieve the Activity’s overall goal of increasing persistence of Western students.  By 2015, the college will raise overall retention by 12 percent, increasing graduating students in each enrolled class by one-third.

**Project Cost and Endowment:**The five-year federal request is $1,994,365.  Western will commit to sustain the Activity by matching the endowment contribution of $170,000, and has a sustainability plan that moves costs to be assumed by the College after the grant period slowly into the operating budget.  The total institutional commitment is $667,677.

**P031A110177 – West Virginia Northern Community College, West Virginia**

West Virginia Northern Community College**(**WVNCC) was established in 1972, as a public, multi-campus comprehensive community college.  The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association for Colleges and Schools.  The college serves six counties of West Virginia, which include Ohio, Brooke, Hancock, Marshall, Wetzel and Tyler.  WVNCC had a fall 2009 enrollment of 3,328 full-time equivalent students.  Among credit enrollment, 68 percent are female, and 38 percent are male.  The ethnicity of the student body is as follows: 95.43 Caucasian, 3.4 African-American, .03 Hispanic, .38 Asian Pacific Islander, and .30 Native American.  WVNCC employs 62 full-time faculty members and 150 adjunct faculty members. 

**Activity**:  Increase student success outcomes and enhance retention for students enrolled in transitional education courses through computer-assisted learning, orientation, test preparation and boot-camp programming, advisement, and through providing professional development for transitional education faculty - $1,543,090.00 over five years.  The strategies that WVNCC will implement to accomplish the activity includes: (1) developing a test preparation program for transitional math, writing, and reading students designed to provide intensive instruction to students prior to them taking the college’s placement test; (2) developing and delivering a transitional math boot camp program for students that have enrolled in and have not successfully completed transitional math courses.  The boot camp’s goal is to assist students in shoring up their skills through intensive direct and computer-assisted instruction, testing mastery--competence through departmental testing; (3) advisement services; (4) providing additional full-time math faculty members to assist with the development of the test preparation and boot camp programs and to teach transitional math classes; and (5) enhancement of professional development for all faculty focusing on the needs of underprepared students.

**Sample key measures**:  (1) the average overall success rate of students enrolled in transitional courses will increase 10 percent over five years, (2) the average fall-to-fall retention rate of students enrolled in transitional education courses will increase three percent over five years, (3) the percentage of students who successfully complete the last course in their developmental education sequence will increase by two percent per year, (4) the percentage of students who successfully complete their first college-level course will increase by five percent over five years, and (5) at least 100 percent of full-time faculty who teach transitional education students will attend one conference or workshop per year.

**Project Management and evaluation**:  The college has allocated $30,500 over five years from the grant to fund an external evaluator.  The Title III Project Director’s salary will be funded by WVNCC.  

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