## U. S. Department of Education

U.S. Department of Education sealn Seal

**FY 2012 Project Abstracts for**

**New Grantees**

## 

## Funded under Title V, Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (CFDA Number:  84.031S)

Office of Postsecondary Education

Washington, DC 20006-8517

**Introduction**

The Hispanic-Serving Institutions Division administers the Developing Hispanic–Serving Institutions (HSI) Program which is authorized under Title V of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended.  The purposes of the program are to expand educational opportunities for, and improve the academic attainment of, Hispanic students, and to expand and enhance the academic offerings, program quality, and institutional stability of the colleges and universities that educate the majority of Hispanic students and help large numbers of Hispanic and other low-income students complete postsecondary degrees.

In order to receive a grant under Title V program, an institution of higher education must have applied for and been designated as an eligible institution.  The Notice Inviting Applications for the Designation as an Eligible Institution was published in the Federal Register on December 15, 2011 (74 FR 77982).  In addition, to basic eligibility requirements, an institution must have at least 25 percent enrollment of undergraduate full-time equivalent (FTE) Hispanic students at the end of the award year immediately preceding the date of application.

The Hispanic-Serving Institutions Division awards Developing Hispanic–Serving Institutions Individual Development Grants (one eligible Hispanic-Serving Institution) and Cooperative Development Grants (one eligible Hispanic–Serving Institution in cooperation with one or more Institutions of Higher Education).  Although the allowable activities and the five-year performance period for the Individual Development Grant and the Cooperative Development Grant are the same, the maximum award amounts differ.  The maximum award amount for Individual Development Grants in FY 2012 was $535,000 per year and the maximum award amount for Cooperative Development Grants was $775,000 per year.

The Developing Hispanic–Serving Institutions Program supports many institutional activities that include:  purchase of equipment for education and research; improvement of instruction facilities (construction, maintenance, renovation); faculty and staff development; curriculum revision and development; purchase of educational materials; improvement of telecommunication capacity; enhancement of student services; enhancement of administrative and funds management systems; establishment or improvement of a development office; creation or enhancement of community outreach programs for elementary and secondary students; and establishment or increase of an institutional endowment fund.

Note:  The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA) as amended, section 503(b) was expanded to include:  activities to improve student services, including innovative and customized instruction courses designed to help retain students and move the students into core courses; articulation agreements and student support programs designed to facilitate the transfer of students from two-year to four-year institutions; and providing education, counseling services, and financial information designed to improve the financial and economic literacy of students or their families.  The list of authorized activities in section 503(b) was also amended to use the term “distance education technologies” in place of “distance learning academic instruction capabilities.” 

The Notice Inviting Applications for new awards for fiscal year (FY) 2012 was published in the Federal Register on February 14, 2012 (77 FR 8228).  The deadline for the transmittal of applications was March 15, 2012.  Applications for grants under the FY 2012 Hispanic–Serving Institutions grant competition were submitted electronically using Grants.gov. 

**Table of Contents**

Grants are listed in “state” and “applicant name” order for each grant type.

**Cooperative Development Grants**

**Individual Development Grants**

**P031S120100**

**Cañada College, CA**

**National Hispanic University, CA**

**Notre Dame de Namur, CA**

**San Francisco State University, CA**

**Cooperative Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Cañada College’s A2B: The Associate’s Degree to Bachelor’s Degree program will provide the transfer, case management, and academic support that our underprepared, first generation college-bound, and Hispanic students need to complete their associate’s degree, transfer to a bachelor’s degree program on our campus, and successfully complete a bachelor’s degree.  The student population Cañada College, located in Redwood City, California, is 35 percent low-income, 68 percent first-generation, and 37 percent Hispanic.  Currently, only 13 percent of our students attain certificates or degrees or become transfer ready within four years.

An analysis of strengths and weaknesses for academic programs indicates that the college’s University Center provides students with a unique opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree on campus.  However, students need articulated academic pathways to move successfully from the associate’s degree to the bachelor’s degree.  A review of the college’s Institutional Management shows a strong leadership team with a focus on degree completion, but few data and services to support degree completion.  With respect to financial stability, the college has excellent fiscal management, but the University Center lacks long-term financial sustainability.

The proposed project addresses the significant problems identified in all three priority areas: 1) Increase Postsecondary Success by improving the transition to the bachelor’s degree, bringing new bachelor’s degrees to Cañada College, and improving academic supports for University Center students; 2) Enable more Data-based Decision-making by tracking University Center student success and using data analysis from program improvements; and 3) Improve Productivity by strengthening program infrastructure and enhancing resources.

The proposed A2B Program is intended to achieve the overall goal of increasing the number of high-need and Hispanic students who complete a bachelor’s degree.

**P031S120083**

**Arizona Western College, AZ**

**Northern Arizona University, AZ**

**Cooperative Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Title V Cooperative Partners Advancing Completion through Transfer Opportunities (PACTO)

Arizona Western College (AWC) and Northern Arizona University - Yuma (NAU-Y) are two Hispanic-Serving Institutions serving the highly disadvantaged populations of southwest Arizona. The two institutions share a campus in the city of Yuma and serve a combined 10,000 square mile service area adjacent to the Mexican border. The combined service region is home to 142,466 residents (62.4 percent Hispanic) and a large migrant farm worker population. The region’s overall poverty rate is very high (22.0 percent), but accentuated among Hispanic families with 27.6 percent living in poverty. Among area adults, just 12.6 percent have a bachelor's degree (less than 7 percent of Hispanic adults). The institutions' combined student body is high-need and high-risk as is evidenced by the student characteristics noted above.

This application was prepared with careful analysis of challenges facing partner institutions. We request funds to: 1) Implement AVID Postsecondary student success system inclusive of a first-year seminar, advising/transfer services, tutoring, peer mentoring, and senior year experience seminar; 2) Improve access to and efficient use of student information via integration of an external data managed services system; and 3) Develop an AWC Transfer Center, NAU-Y Advising/Transfer Center, and joint Veterans/Military Student Support Center. The proposed project directly addresses the Title V purpose of expanding opportunities for, and improving the academic attainment of Hispanic students as well as all three competitive preference priorities of the 2012 Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions competition.

**P031S120075**

**Gavilan College, CA**

**Hartnell College, CA**

**California State University, Monterey Bay, CA**

**Cooperative Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Streamlined Career Transfer Pathways: 

Keys to Improve Hispanics’ Transfer and Completion

Gavilan and Hartnell Community Colleges - both Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) are dedicated to providing access and success to Hispanic students in a historically agricultural region of west-central California and have a long history of cooperation to meet the enormous education and workforce needs of their contiguous service areas. Through the proposed project, Gavilan and Hartnell will strengthen existing partnerships with nearby California State University, Monterey Bay (CSU-MB). This new partnership is necessary to develop seamless accessible, streamlined inter-segmental transfer pathways in three high-need career preparation fields that require college degrees: nursing, computer science/information systems and digital media design. Too few regional Hispanic students have access to CSU-MB degree programs in these fields and weaknesses at all three partner HSIs contribute to this problem. Cooperative effort is essential to address this challenge, and partners can make cost-effective progress by working together. The new pathways will be re-designed to implement recommendations of the most reputable research groups that have studied the transfer obstacles facing underrepresented California community college students, particularly in career pathways. They will be re-designed also to address the specific needs of Hispanic and other under-represented students. All three partners have a solid foundation of planning and action on which to build effective and efficient career transfer pathways: 

P031S120036

**Pasadena City College, CA**

**California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA**

**Cooperative Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Building a Design Technology Pathway through the Road Less Traveled to Increase

Hispanic and High-need Student Access and Completion.

As one of the largest single-campus public community colleges in the country, Pasadena City College (PCC) provides educational access and degree opportunity to thousands of Hispanic students each year. PCC selected California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (CPP), just twenty miles away, to partner in this cooperative arrangement pathway project because it is a regional leader in technology education, and is equally committed to being a highly effective Hispanic-serving institution. 

**Problem Statement**: Increasing postsecondary participation and achieving equitable outcomes are necessary if state and national completion goals are to be achieved. Aligning enrollment and degree production with industry needs are critical to economic recovery and long-term global competitiveness, and are consistent with the needs of low-income and career-minded students whose educational goals are closely tied to improving workforce viability. Career Technical Education (CTE) has great potential to positively contribute to completion goals, workforce diversification, and rapidly changing industry workforce needs. The proposed cooperative project between two large Hispanic-serving public institutions, PCC and CPP, will focus on increasing Hispanic and underrepresented student participation, improving milestone achievement, smoothing transfer, and ensuring equitable degree completion for Hispanic and underserved high school students, students who are currently most negatively impacted by a broken transfer system.

**Project Design**: Through collaborative effort with high schools and industry, PCC and CPP will develop an accessible, responsive, and innovative Design Technology Pathway (DTP) that integrates a design-based curriculum with support services to prepare students for success in a wide range of programs and careers. A new model for CTE education, the DTP will provide cohorts of underprepared, career-minded students contextualized basic skills instruction, summer bridge boot camp, and project-based FYE to increase persistence, transfer and degree completion. A learning community, the DTP is designed to implement recommendations of the California Community Colleges (CCC), CTE and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pathway research about how to increase access and outcomes of underrepresented student groups in high need areas through integration of academic and social strategies. With an aligned and integrated pathway and clear, yet flexible educational roadmap, many more Hispanic and low-income students will complete degrees that lead to high-demand, well-paid and meaningful technology-related careers in the service area.

**Student Outcomes Objectives**:  Project objectives include incremental increases in student success indicators of DTP students over identified baselines, including successful course completion, basic skills improvement rate, and milestone achievement. A key objective, and guiding principle in designing the project, will be to eliminate equity gaps at key pathway milestones to significantly increase the degree completion rate of Hispanic students.

**P031S120095**

**Laredo Community College, TX**

**Texas A&M International University, TX**

**Cooperative Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Laredo Community College (LCC), (total undergraduate enrollment of 10,076, 97 percent Hispanic, Fall 2011) a Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) located in Laredo, Texas, requests funds to partner with Texas A&M International University (TAMIU), (total undergraduate enrollment of 7,037, 92 percent Hispanic, Fall 2011) a HSI also in Laredo, Texas, for the purpose of improving and expanding our capacity to improve the academic attainment of Hispanic students and other low income individuals and to reduce the costs of attaining a postsecondary degree. The overarching goal for both institutions is to focus on student success. The seven major goals include enhancing the academic quality of students’ educational experiences to increase retention, graduation, and transfer rates by developing coordinated linkages and faculty development; strengthen student academic support through the development of structured activities; increase faculty development, enhance community programs in service learning, increase and improve the collection, analysis, and use of data to inform decision making so that the institutions can more effectively track each student; and strengthen the transfer process between high school and college and college to the university. The seventh goal, which is paramount to the survival of institutions, is to carry out these activities so that the savings improve fiscal stability. This proposal includes an independent external evaluator, Dr. Ruth Lopez Turley, who has agreed to assess the project’s evaluation plan and activities to determine linkages between the proposed activity interventions and successful outcomes. The proposed Title V Cooperative Agreement Development Project is central to the institution’s plans of improving student retention in gatekeeper courses (LCC Strategic Plan 2012-2015: Focus on Student Success) and to TAMIU's Strategic Plan goals to increase overall student engagement and success; especially transfer students. LCC has addressed the three competitive preference priorities by designing the project to increase postsecondary attainment of needy students, use data to inform decision making and implement activities that will save money through shared faculty development, use of common transfer software and increase student success by reducing the number of students repeating courses. 

**Activity: Focusing on Student Success**

LCC and TAMIU will use grant funds to improve academic attainment with one Activity with four components - Component 1: Ensuring Success at Intake and Transfer; Component 2: Focusing on Student Success in gatekeeper courses and faculty development; Component 3: Developing and Implementing a Model Transfer Program; and Component 4: Using data to improve decision making and increase student success.

**Measurable Objectives**

1) Percentage change, over the five-year grant period, of the number of full-time (FT) degree-seeking undergraduates enrolled at LCC and TAMIU.

2) Percentage of first-time FT participating students who continue to second year at LCC and TAMIU. 

3) Percentage of FT participating students from LCC graduating within three years of enrollment.

4) Percentage of FT LCC transfer students retained and graduating with a Bachelor’s degree within four years of enrolling at TAMIU.

5) Reduction of cost for undergraduate degrees at LCC and TAMIU through the efforts in the proposed project.

**P031S120131**

**The University of Texas at El Paso, TX**

**Drexel University, TX**

**Cooperative Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Fusing Green Energy into Manufacturing Engineering Education to

Cultivate Technical Success and Leadership Excellence among

Hispanic Engineering Students

This project is designed to integrate green energy and manufacturing courses using an information and technology-based, real-world problem-solving-focused educational strategy in a new manufacturing engineering curriculum. This project will train Hispanic and female students to be at the forefront of emerging technologies, as energy technology is one of the most promising fields for the first half of the 21st Century. There are a number of challenges facing green energy manufacturing from an industrial perspective.

First, green energy manufacturing is a complex and technology-concentrated set of processes; therefore, it requires a very specialized and experienced workforce. Second, upgrading traditional manufacturing education to green energy manufacturing education is extremely expensive given that a huge up-front investment on special equipment and training; operation and maintenance cost must also be considered. The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) has invested a great amount in developing an advanced manufacturing research facility. 

In this project, we will formulate two geographically separated virtual teams at UTEP and Drexel University (DU), collaborating on a green energy-manufacturing project over the internet. Implementing a mixed method of research design, students and faculty involved in the project will be assessed in formative and summative formats to measure the efficacy of the project. The project is aimed at integrating green energy into the manufacturing engineering curriculum and to cultivate leaders in the field among minority and female engineering students. Successful completion of the project will lead to excellence in green energy and advanced engineering education.

**P031S120117**

**Santa Monica College, CA**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Santa Monica College (SMC), a publicly supported community college serving Los Angeles County in California, will develop the Building Foundations for Academic and Career Success project to support low-income, Hispanic, and other traditionally underrepresented and/or at-risk students as they pursue their academic and career goals. SMC is recognized internationally for its ability to transfer students, but not all students have an equal opportunity to transfer or even complete their academic and career goals. Historically, the college has promoted and facilitated transfer for some groups, while overlooking the needs and concerns of other groups, including students who enter SMC with the goal to complete a degree or certificate in Career Technical Education (CTE). 

Students who are interested in CTE, but who enter underprepared in math and English, are even more at risk of not achieving their educational goals. Unfortunately, for the most part, these students are underrepresented minority students. Nearly 80 percent of Hispanic and African American students who are interested in CTE degrees/certificates test into pre-college math and English. Through the proposed Title V project, SMC will increase institutional capacity to support underprepared CTE students by training faculty to facilitate student success and provide students with the skills and resources they need to achieve their academic and career goals. The Building Foundations for Academic and Career Success project will develop and institutionalize an array of professional development activities designed to help faculty, counselors, and instructional support staff identify and implement effective pedagogy and teaching methodologies. In doing so, SMC will improve student acquisition of math and English skills across the curriculum and increase student success in CTE programs.

At the heart of this project will be SMC’s new Teaching and Learning Center (TLC), which will offer an annual Summer Institute, quarterly seminars for all faculty, departmental workshops that target career-specific improvements in math, English, and content-specific courses, and customized individual and small group support. Recognizing that each discipline is different and that one size does not fit all students and faculty, the TLC will be faculty driven and discipline specific. As faculty work together to identify and address curricular gaps in their programs, they will choose from a toolbox of effective practices that have proven successful in programs across the United States. Such practices include contextualized learning, accelerated coursework, directed learning activities, modular classes, and intensive student support services. TLC faculty and staff will support these initiatives through training and hands-on support.

Through these efforts, this Title V project will address institutional goals and strategic initiatives related to strengthening CTE programs, increasing student success in basic skills, and addressing issues of equity among student groups. 

**P031S120073**

**Ventura College, CA**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Ventura College (VC), an accredited public two-year institution of higher education, has been a part of the seaside community of Ventura since1925. The 112-acre main campus is located 60 miles north of Los Angeles and 30 miles south of Santa Barbara. The primary service area of the college is northern Ventura County, including the small towns and primarily Hispanic agricultural communities located in the relatively remote Santa Clara River Valley. In fall 2011 the college enrolled 13,763 students, 46 percent of whom were Hispanic/Latino.

**Project Title**: VELOCIDAD - Increasing Transfer Velocity through Improved Institutional Effectiveness 

**Problems Addressed**:  Toward the underlying goal of improving Hispanic student transfer success, academic program problems to be addressed include - successful course completion and successful progression through the required math and English course sequences, in addition to the 20 core courses which have been identified as high risk barrier courses which generate more than 6,000 unsuccessful grades each year - the majority of which are earned by Hispanic students. Institutional Management problems to be addressed include - major deficits in research capacity for (a) assessment and improvement of student performance; (b) qualitative research; and (c) student learning outcomes at the program and institutional levels.

**Activity Strategies**:  The Velocidad activity, designed primarily to improve transfer of Hispanic students, is comprised of four components: (1) accelerated math, accelerated English and writing across the curriculum; (2) culturally responsive and high-impact strategies to improve success rates in high-risk barrier courses, blocking progress for thousands of Hispanic students each year; (3) infusion of best practices in teaching and learning through institutional effectiveness including qualitative assessment; and (4) new strategies for transfer counseling and transfer career advising.

**Focus on Continuous Improvement, Scale and Sustainability**:  Velocidad has been designed to implement permanent changes to strengthen VC to focus on improving student success and transfer. Evaluation processes will adhere to the Institute of Education Science’s (IES) scientifically valid education evaluation methods recommended by the Department of Education. The University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education's Center for Urban Education (CUE) has been chosen to partner with VC in project evaluation. Dr. Estala Mara Bensimon, Director of CUE, and a team of highly experienced educational researchers have recently worked with other State community college Title V project evaluations with positive recommendations.

**P031S120098**

**Wilbur Wright College, IL**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Wright Start: Increasing Hispanic Student Success in the First Year of College

Wright College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago, is a comprehensive community college in Chicago, Illinois with over 23,700 students; 48 percent of the total headcount across all programs are Hispanic students. The college offers AA/AS and AAS degrees and vocational certificates. 

The proposed Title V project will help students who face formidable barriers to college retention, success, completion and transfer. Most of Wright’s first year students, particularly those who are Hispanic, low-income, first-generation and underrepresented, arrive at college under-prepared and place into remedial or basic skills courses. The implementation strategies for the Wright Start project are specifically designed to meet the needs of these students.

Primary Implementation Strategies:

· Developmental Learning Communities to improve student course performance and retention;

· Course redesign for the math sequence from basic skills through pre-calculus to individualize and accelerate progression through the remedial sequence and into college-level coursework;

· Passport to Careers to increase completion in Career & Technical Education (CTE) programs and provide students with the National Career Readiness Certificate to improve employment outcomes;

· Active and collaborative learning to increase student engagement;

· Development of a strong assessment & benchmarking program that will enable Wright to track students by entering cohort to better analyze student progression through programs;

· First Year Center with Individualized Educational & Career Plans and Early Intervention using the ENGAGE assessment for identification of at-risk students;

· Bilingual Writing Center services to increase English fluency and course performance for students with limited English proficiency;

· Outreach to high schools, students and parents to increase preparation for postsecondary education; and

· Work with baccalaureate-granting institutions on articulation, transfer support and data sharing to improve transfer for community college students.

Improvements, practices and personnel will begin institutionalization in Years 4 and 5 of the project, with about 20 percent of personnel costs absorbed by the college in Year 4 and 40 percent absorbed in Year 5.

**P031S120061**

**Passaic County Community College, NJ**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Enhancing Teaching & Learning in 10 Barrier Courses

Community College (PCCC) is the only two-year, public, open admissions institution in Paterson, the third largest city in New Jersey. Accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, PCCC serves over 10,000 students, a predominantly low-income, Hispanic and minority student population.

Based on institutional analysis, the college identified students’ inability to master important concepts being taught in core curricula and their lack of college success strategies as a barrier to achievement. As part of its comprehensive institutional planning and analysis process, PCCC reviewed its most highly enrolled college-level gatekeeper courses and found that 10 of these courses are having a significant impact on student persistence and attrition. 

To address this issue, PCCC will undertake a comprehensive curricular reform effort that involves revising ten 100-level college courses with multiple sections, linked to a vibrant Academic Advancement Center and supported by an intensive instructional development component that will train faculty in integrating collaborative and group learning, instructional technology, and college success strategies into the revised courses. 

By the end of the five-year initiative, the activity will increase by 10 percentage points the number of students that pass the gatekeeper courses and by 10 percentage points the number of students that persist to the next academic year, thereby putting students on a pathway towards program completion.

By 2017, the activity will be serving over 2,500 college-level students per semester, the majority of whom will be Hispanic.  PCCC will address each of the three competitive preference priorities. 

**P031S120111**

**Union County College, NJ**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Through this project, Learning Enhanced through Accelerated Paths (LEAP), Union County College seeks to improve the academic success and increase the persistence of Hispanic and other low-income students who are enrolled in developmental mathematics, developmental English, or English as a Second Language (ESL) through course redesign accelerated courses.

The project responds to the following needs:

1. Low persistence and retention rates of Hispanic and other low-income students in developmental mathematics, developmental English, and ESL.

2. The academic under-preparedness of Hispanic and low-income students in developmental mathematics, developmental English, and ESL courses.

3. The fiscal challenges faced by the college in providing student and support services needed to serve an academically under-prepared growing Hispanic and low-income student population.

LEAP will improve the retention, academic success, and persistence of Hispanic and other low-income first year students in developmental mathematics, developmental English, or ESL courses. LEAP will consist of the following activities:

**Activity 1**:  Establish course redesign accelerated paths in developmental mathematics, developmental English, and ESL within a learning community model.

**Activity 2**:  Establish an enhanced student development program that includes professional and peer tutoring, intrusive academic/career counseling, on-line advisement, student orientation program, early warning alert, peer mentoring, leadership development, and administration of the nationally recognized Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) and Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI).

**Activity 3**:  Implement an expanded, a cutting-edge professional development program for faculty and staff focused on innovative pedagogy, student retention and persistence, and data-based decision-making.

The overarching goal of the project is to increase Union County College’s institutional capacity to improve the academic success and persistence of Hispanic and other low-income students by achieving these outcomes:

· Through course redesign accelerated paths increase by 5-15 percent the students who persist in the accelerated path and/or college level courses;

· Through in-class support and tutoring, increase by 5-20 percent the number of students enrolled in accelerated or college level courses that successfully complete course work (receiving a grade C or better in the course);

· The number of students who receive enhanced counseling and advisement support will increase by 5-25 percent; and

· The number of grant faculty who participate in professional development workshops designed to improve academic success; student persistence and retention will increase by 50-70 percent.

**P031S120080**

**Eastern New Mexico University, Roswell, NM**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Eastern New Mexico University – Roswell proposes a project titled, “Increasing Access and Ensuring Quality Academic Opportunities for Southeastern New Mexico”. The project entails two key activities: (1) develop and expand essential programs that positively impact student retention, persistence and completion of certificate and degree programs; and (2) develop comprehensive systematic data collection/analysis systems used to guide student retention activities.

Students entering the university as first-time college students are significantly unprepared for college work with an average 69 percent of all students and 91 percent of all Hispanic students needing one or more remedial course in English, reading, and/or math. That dismal statistic is closely matched with the significant issue of retention for Hispanic students in the first semester of the university experience where an average 62 percent do not return for the following semester. Unfortunately, the university does not have the institutional research systems in place to complete in-depth analyses regarding the underlying reasons for the significant issues with retention nor does it have the support systems in place to provide individualized student support to increase retention.

The specific outcomes from the implementation of the two activities are: a) increased retention rates for first year students, b) increased retention rates for Hispanic and low-income freshmen, c) increased certificate and associate degree completion rates for Hispanic and low-income students, and d) institutionalization of a comprehensive data collection and analysis system.

**P031S120116**

**Luna Community College, NM**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Luna Community College (LCC) is a rural, public, regionally accredited, comprehensive

Hispanic-serving community college located in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Las Vegas, New Mexico. LCC serves more than 1,800 students annually through its main campus in Las Vegas, three outreach centers and two satellite campuses.  This vast rural 69 percent Hispanic service area is characterized by high poverty and low educational attainment.

**Activity Title: Creating a Pathway to Success in High-Demand Programs**. 

To serve the needs of this highly disadvantaged population, LCC proposes to improve Nursing/Allied Health student access to required clinical experiences through a Simulation Lab, add two Allied Health and one Career Technical certificate programs, revitalize aging campus facilities to enable increased enrollment in Career Technical Education programs while addressing energy inefficiency and health/safety issues, updating outdated equipment in five programs, and making education more accessible and convenient for our students through hybrid courses and courses enhanced with Lecture Capture. 

Achieving activity objectives will result in enrollment increases of 41 percent in the target programs, or 370 new students, and will allow three programs to earn national accreditation, which will improve student earning potential. We also invest in important data software that will enable us to better serve our students, work more productively, and base critical decisions on timely accurate data. 

**P031S120105**

**City University of New York, Lehman College, NY**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Lehman, a founding member of Foundations of Excellence (FOE) ®, is committed to enhanced learning and retention of first-year, sophomore and transfer students. This project, Increasing Sophomore Success and Beyond, focused on the sophomore year, carries Lehman’s commitment to a critically underserved population of students. The centerpiece of FOE is a model comprised of a set of principles termed Foundational Dimensions® which guide measurement of institutional efforts and provide an aspirational model and an intellectual foundation for the entirety of the college experience.

In spite of several successful initiatives many sophomore students (who enter as freshmen and transfer students) experience great challenges in meeting the requirements to remain in good standing at the college. These include: maintaining the grade point average needed to remain at Lehman (2.0); achieving the minimum grade point average needed to enter desirable majors (2.75 to 3.0); seeking and finding help when needed; choosing a major by 45 credits; finding a career of interest that is compatible with their skills and abilities; balancing work and family with college; and finding the financial resources to complete their baccalaureate degree in a timely fashion.

The proposed project Increasing Sophomore Success and Beyond (ISSAB) will address these challenges through a comprehensive, intrusive approach that includes: an early warning system; an enhanced database monitoring system; a focus on students’ earning 30 credits per year; revision of probationary monitoring; integrating Lehman’s academic support services through a referral and communication system; professional development of faculty for early assessment and in use of the early warning system; revision of the freshmen course LEH 100; and development and implementation of a transfer student database to verify/discover key challenges and develop strategies to address them at their prior institutions and at Lehman.

Our success will result in increased and earlier identification of students at risk of falling under a 2.0 index; greater use of early assessment by faculty; increased use of support services by students; improved student attendance at career and majors events; earlier student choice of majors; improved retention of students to their sophomore and junior years; increased accumulation of credits; and increased six-year graduation rates.

**P031S120128**

**Bayamon Central University, PR**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Located in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, Bayamon Central University (BCU) is an independent Master’s Level I liberal arts institution affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church and founded by the Dominican Order in 1961. BCU enrolls 2,223 undergraduate and 493 graduate students (100 percent Hispanic) and offers associate and baccalaureate degrees and fourteen master’s degrees. Students have access to four bachelor’s degree programs: Business Administration and Technology; Education; Nursing and Counseling/Psychology.  

BCU serves predominantly low socioeconomic status Hispanics with multiple at-risk characteristics: 86 percent first-generation college; 96 percent Pell recipients; 70 percent female; 38 percent with dependents, and 65 percent academically underprepared.

Addressing key institutional weaknesses and problems, BCU proposes the following:

· Redesign upper division Business Administration and Humanities curricula as integrative, experiential/project-based and technology-rich.

· Provide a Faculty Studio and professional training for faculty to redesign curriculum.

· Renovate/redesign classrooms to create quality, collaborative learning environments.

· Develop an Entrepreneurship concentration in Business Administration and a business incubator lab (for experiential/project-based learning).

**Competitive Preference Priorities**: 

Increasing Postsecondary Success – redesigning curricula as integrative, relevant, and project-based to support student success and persistence. 

Enabling More Data-Based Decision-Making – integrating data use in assessment processes at the administrative and program levels. 

Improving Productivity – utilizing educational technology to comprehensively track student outcomes and to provide instructional technology tools in the classroom for better and more effective management of time and resources.

**P031S120141**

**John Dewey College, PR**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Background/ Service Area: John Dewey College (JDC) is a private, nonprofit, four-year Hispanic-serving institution located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Total enrollment in fall 2011 was 1,439 (99 percent Hispanic /98 percent Pell grant eligible). JDC has the characteristics of an inner city college, serving an economically distressed area within San Juan. About 60 percent of JDC students are enrolled in Evening or Weekend College, reflecting a high proportion of working adults, many of whom are blue-collar workers.

JDC has a history of addressing the needs and challenges of our urban service area through strong programming that includes science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields (e.g., our Nursing, Pharmacy, Respiratory Therapy, and Medical Emergencies programs prepare students for employment in the expanding health sciences arena). At the same time, we seek to continue expanding access to new areas with strong potential for growth (e.g., technology fields) to broaden and maximize opportunities for our students. However, serious institutional problems prevent us from expanding programs in areas that are especially promising for our student population. Our most pressing problems are centered on two key areas: gaps in programming/academic services and insufficient/inadequate STEM instructional facilities.

JDC’s severe deficiencies will be strategically addressed through this Title V project which proposes to develop:

· A new Bachelor of Science degree program (Information Technology);

· Appropriately equipped instructional facilities (laboratories to support proposed information technology program, as well as science and mathematics laboratories); and

· An academic support system (with face-to-face and online components) to adequately support students at risk of failure, particularly in challenging STEM courses.

**P031S120108**

**Galveston College, TX**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Galveston College (GC), a two-year publicly supported college in Galveston, Texas, serves more than 2,200 students (the majority low-income, 29 percent Hispanic) in an island community, still struggling to overcome the devastating impact of Hurricane Ike. The proposed project, “Modern Strategies for Student Success,” is designed to address the needs of a highly underprepared student population, with two-thirds requiring remediation in basic skills. These high-risk students are faltering at the “starting line,” failing to master developmental education courses in reading, writing, and math and/or successfully transition into college-level gateway courses.

Meanwhile, weaknesses in instructional and advising strategies, lab and classroom facilities, the technological infrastructure, and fiscal resources have prevented GC from implementing modern, effective strategies that could help its students succeed. The end result is that too many GC students are failing to complete a college credential – thus limiting their potential earnings and quality of life.

The goal of this Title V project is to increase the percent of Hispanic students (and all students) who earn a degree or certificate by (1) enhancing instructional strategies in developmental education and high risk gateway courses; (2) modernizing labs/classrooms for developmental and gateway instruction; (3) integrating new advisement tools; and (4) strengthening the technological infrastructure.

GC will address the three competitive preference priorities by increasing the success of high need students; enabling more data based decision-making (through the technological renovation and related technology-based strategies); and increase productivity by reducing down time and inefficiencies created by the outmoded infrastructure, weaknesses in course design, and the inability to use time-saving technologies.

**P031S120006**

**Texas State University, San Marcos, TX**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Mentoring and Academic Coaching:

Foundations for Student Success at Texas State University

Texas State University serves 34,000 students in Central Texas and is located between Austin and San Antonio. Thirty-five percent of Texas State University students are of minority descent and the university achieved its institutional goal of becoming a Hispanic-serving institution in fall 2010. This commitment to access and opportunity is also reflected in Texas State University’s recognition as the 14th ranked college for awarding bachelor’s degrees (N = 1098) and 30th ranked college for awarding master’s degrees (N = 210) to Hispanics in 2010 by Hispanic Outlook.

**Activity 1**: Enhancing Student Success through Mentoring. 

Activity 1 projects have been designed to enhance student retention and persistence during the first year of college. To improve academic achievement in the freshman year, mentoring will be provided to students who would benefit from an academic “nudge”. This program will target students identified according to information provided at admission, which estimates their likelihood of academic success. In addition, this new initiative will receive CRLA International Mentor Training Program Certification as programs and services are aligned with best practices standards.

**Activity 2**: Strengthening Achievement and Developing Financial Literacy through Academic Coaching. Activity 2 has been designed to enhance student persistence and retention during the first year of college. Academic coaching will help students assess their personal strengths and weaknesses and develop a plan for academic recovery, which will allow them to be retained to the sophomore year. Supplementing academic coaching with participation in a comprehensive financial education program for first year students will improve their awareness and understanding of budget and financial planning, overspending, dealing with debt and credit card, and preventing identity theft and other topics.

**Measurable Outcomes**: Project evaluation will assess achievement of the following TXST

MAC goals: Academic achievement of participants [participant aggregate GPA supported by mentoring / academic coaching compared to non-participating peers]; Persistence to the second year for activity 1 and 2 participants [total number of aggregate semester and cumulative GPA / semester credit hours completed annually following participation (goal = 2.5 percent improvement) compared to peers; Retention to the second year for activity 1 and 2 participants [percent retained compared to  percent not receiving services retained (goal = 2.5 percent improvement)]; Increased academic recovery and continuation of financial aid for at-risk groups [ percent return to good standing and eligibility compared to  percent not receiving services (goal = 2.5 percent improvement); Attitudinal changes (student satisfaction) associated with program implementation [obtained via internal surveys of participants (goal = 10 percent improvement in student response over five years)].

This Individual Development Grant proposal supports all three competitive priorities identified within the program announcement. These are: (1) Increasing Postsecondary Success, (2) Enabling More Data-Driven Decision-Making, and (3) Improving Productivity.

**P031S120077**

**University of Houston, Downtown, TX**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

 Project STAR (Student Transition and Retention)

The University of Houston Downtown (UHD), a Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) with an enrollment of 12,900 students, ranks 33rd among the nation’s institutions of higher education awarding bachelor degrees to Hispanic students. With 61 percent of UHD’s students receiving need-based federal financial aid, 39 percent Hispanic enrollment, and about 70 percent of its incoming first-year students and 50-70 percent of its graduates as first-generation college students, HSI funds will enable UHD to significantly improve its support systems for first-year students, especially the first-generation college students, and thus increase student achievement, persistence, and graduation rates.

Challenges facing UHD include low retention rates for first time in any college (FTIAC) students (60.94 percent for all freshmen; 67.91 percent for Hispanics), a 100 percent commuter campus, limited student knowledge about how to access UHD’s academic support and other resources, a high (80 percent) population of FTIAC students who are not college ready, as evidenced by their need for remediation courses upon enrollment, and a low six-year graduation rate (14.26 percent).

Project STAR proposes to address student needs and the HSI goals through three major activity components: 1) Summer Fast Track Institutes (Intensive ACCUPLACER Test Prep); 2) Welcome Institutes; and 3) College Acculturation and Personal Success (CAPS) Program, which consists of a) College Success Program; b) Supplemental Instruction (SI) Tutoring; c) Workshops (online and face-to-face) with built-in incentives for completion; d) Mentoring (by faculty, staff, peer/students); and e) Engagement (membership in co-curricular/activity groups and attendance at UHD events/activities). This project addresses and meets all three competitive preference priorities as indicated in program guidelines.

[6/26/2012]

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