# 

## U.S. Department of Education

## FY 2014 Project Abstracts for

## New Grantees

## 

## Funded under Title V, Part B Promoting Postbaccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans (PPOHA) Program 

## (CFDA Number: 84.031M)

Office of Postsecondary Education

Washington, DC 20006-8517

**Introduction**

The Promoting Postbaccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans (PPOHA) Program is authorized under Title V of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended.  The purposes of the program are to: (1) expand postbaccalaureate opportunities for, and improve the academic attainment of, Hispanic students; and (2) expand the postbaccalaureate academic offerings as well as enhance the program quality in the institutions of higher education that are educating the majority of Hispanic college students and helping large numbers of Hispanic and low-income students complete postsecondary degrees. 

In order to receive a grant under the PPOHA Program, an institution of higher education must offer a postbaccalaureate certificate or postbaccalaureate degree program and 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 January 13, 2014 (79 FR 2161).  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 PPOHA Program awards Individual Development Grants (one eligible Hispanic-Serving Institution).  The maximum award amount for Individual Development Grants is $575,000 per year.  The grant period is five years. 

The PPOHA Program supports many institutional activities that include:  purchase, rental, or lease of scientific or laboratory equipment for educational purposes, including instructional and research purposes; construction, maintenance, renovation, and improvement of classrooms, libraries, laboratories, and other instructional facilities, including purchase or rental of telecommunications technology equipment or services; purchase of library books, periodicals, technical and other scientific journals, microfilm, microfiche, and other educational materials, including telecommunications program materials; support for low-income postbaccalaureate students including outreach, academic support services, mentoring, scholarships, fellowships, and other financial assistance to permit the enrollment of such students in postbaccalaureate certificate and postbaccalaureate degree-granting programs; support of faculty exchanges, faculty development, faculty research, curriculum development, and academic instruction; creating or improving facilities for Internet or other distance education technologies, including purchase or rental of telecommunications technology equipment or services; collaboration with other institutions of higher education to expand postbaccalaureate certificate and postbaccalaureate degree offerings; and other activities proposed in the application submitted pursuant to section 514 that:  (A) contribute to carrying out the purposes of this part; and (B) are approved by the Secretary as part of the review and acceptance of such application.

The Notice Inviting Applications for new awards for fiscal year (FY) 2014 was published in the FederalRegister on May 29, 2014.  The deadline for the transmittal of applications was June 27, 2014.  As required by the Department of Education, applications for grants under the FY 2014 PPOHA grant competition were submitted electronically using Grants.gov.  

# Table of Contents

Grants are listed in “state” order.

**Individual Development Grants**

**P031M140025**

**California State Polytechnic University Pomona, CA**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) proposes a comprehensive educational project, MENTORES (Mentoring, Educating, Networking, and Thematic Opportunities for Research in Engineering and Science), for increasing the number of Hispanic, underrepresented minority (URM), and low-income students earning master’s degrees. Currently, Hispanic students represent 37 percent of its undergraduate enrollment and 28 percent of its graduate enrollment. By eliminating institutional gaps that inhibit graduate school entry, retention, degree attainment, post-graduate employment, as well as acceptance into Ph.D. programs, MENTORES will expand existing services/programs within the university in order to produce a talented pool of professionals and leaders for the STEM workforce. Though the project will be focused on California’s acute need for a skilled workforce, specifically trained in water/energy infrastructure development, it can include other urgent multidisciplinary issues requiring STEM solutions. At Cal Poly Pomona, the Colleges of Engineering, Science, Agriculture, Environmental Design, Letters, Art, and Social Science will participate in this project; it is a veritable campus-wide project with strong support from the Office of the Provost. Key personnel will come from the departments of civil engineering, geological sciences, biology, chemistry, and urban/regional planning; faculty in these disciplines believe that this project will meet their department’s educational objectives for producing the *best and brightest*in the STEM workforce. Particular emphasis on collaboration with the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies, the university’s premier sustainability project, is envisioned. The new Environmental/Water Resources graduate program—which requires faculty, lab facilities, and expertise across a broad range of disciplines—is the ideal prototype for this project. Consistent with Governor Brown’s emphasis on developing sustainable water/energy supplies for the state (in the face of severe drought, climate change, and population growth), is the university’s pledge for meeting California’s goal to reduce water/energy consumption by 20 percent within the next six years. This project will greatly enhance Cal Poly Pomona’s efforts to meet this ambitious goal by harnessing the full intellectual power of STEM faculty and graduate students on the problem of water/energy sustainability on campus while meeting urgent societal needs. MENTORES will:

· Identify talented and promising Hispanic, URM, and low-income students;

· Assist students to enter master’s degree programs by marshaling a variety of resources;

· Assist students to successfully earn master’s via enhanced mentoring and other services;

· Develop and prime the pipeline of Hispanic, URM, and low-income students into competitive doctoral programs (such as UC Berkeley, UCLA, Cornell, and MIT);

· Educate faculty about the cultures and needs of students;

· Expand the Learning Resource Center to better serve graduate students;

· Expand the Maximizing Engineering Potential (MEP) and Science Educational Enhancement Services (SEES) programs;

· Expand Library and Writing Center services to serve unique needs of graduate students;

· Strengthen and broaden relationships with industry and government agencies through the Career Center to expand students’ opportunities for paid research/internships;

· Provide financial aid, research stipend, and travel support for students;

· Upgrade existing laboratory facilities to better support specialized research and training; and

· Develop online courses to optimize access and flexibility to graduate students.

**P031M140041**

**California State University Dominguez Hills, CA**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

To expand the number of Hispanic and disadvantaged graduate students to successfully enroll in and complete postbaccalaureate degrees, California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), a comprehensive public university located in Carson, California, has created Graduate Writing Institute for Excellence (GWIE). GWIE will endeavor to excel in the following areas: of student academic services, student enrichment opportunities, student community partnerships and internship opportunities, and faculty scholarship and culturally adaptive curriculum enhancement.

The grant’s services will align and extend CSUDH’s Mission Statement, Vision and 2010-2015 Strategic Plan of becoming a *Comprehensive Model Urban University*that provides *accessible and transformative education, scholarship, and services*to help its students achieve academic excellence. GWIE will create learning opportunities beyond classroom instruction to fulfill these needs, *embracing technology, transforming diversity into knowledge, and providing pathways and guidance*to graduate student success. More importantly, GWIE will seek to achieve the following goals: 1) strengthen the academic performance of the targeted students; 2) build targeted students’ self-efficacy, empowerment, and collaborative dispositions through training, internships and service activities; and 3) help faculty to engage and mentor students on thesis and collaborative research and publications; and adapt curricular modifications that better personalize to the needs of diverse, nontraditional graduate students.

To achieve these goals, GWIE will design and develop a graduate writing, research and internship site to address academic writing, research and professional internship. The GWIE will provide students with:  1) regular and progressive workshops and seminars in academic reading comprehension and writing, graduate study skills, critical thinking and analysis of research in the discipline, scholarship presentation and exclusive boot-camps and incentives to student theses and capstone project writing pursuits; 2) internship and service learning opportunities to bridge professional and content skill applications and build partnerships in the community; 3) provide new and special student orientations and services designed to familiarize students with campus resources, graduate academic policies, and applications to doctoral programs and professional employment opportunities; 4) promote and facilitate collaborative scholarly research among faculty and students, including incentives to pursue theses and capstone projects; and 5) seminars to support faculty on why and how to tailor pedagogy to the needs of their Hispanic and other underrepresented graduate students.

GWIE will positively impact at least 1500 graduate students and 250 faculty over five years. Students who take part will graduate with more diverse professional and personal skills to take control of their learning, optimize their academic experiences, and succeed in their professional lives. Moreover, GWIE will build an institutional infrastructure in the Graduate Writing, Research and Internship Center that will permanently support and promote the academic excellence of Hispanic and other underrepresented graduate students at CSUDH.

**P031M140040**

**California State University Fresno, CA**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

*Project Title: The Blue Ribbon Online Graduate Campus*:****California State University, Fresno (“Fresno State”) is the largest Hispanic-Serving Institution north of Los Angeles. Providing responsive postbaccalaureate educational opportunity to the Valley’s growing Hispanic population has never been more important than today—or more challenging for the university. The growth in Fresno State’s graduate programs reflects their value to the community, especially in addressing core community needs. However, growth of Hispanic enrollment in graduate programs has not kept pace with undergraduate Hispanic enrollment, and advanced degrees are increasingly critical for both employment in and development of the region. Hispanics are underrepresented in most graduate programs, and the Division of Graduate Studies lacks resources to be responsive to their needs, especially in a vast service area (17,000-plus square miles). 

*Main Project Components: Create a blue ribbon online graduate campus through Fresno State’s Division of Graduate Studies.*****Fresno State has a growing number of online courses and programs that are critical to increase access in a huge service area (the San Joaquin Valley). These online programs and courses are developed by faculty and housed within Fresno State’s individual schools and colleges. The consequence is that the online offerings are frequently and severely under-resourced: campus-wide resources and services are minimal to non-existent. The proposed project develops and implements across-the-board online resources and services that fully support the growing number of online programs and courses housed within the individual colleges and schools so they are able to attract, retain, and graduate a significantly increased number of Hispanic students. Currently, Fresno State has four new online master’s programs; a 95 percent online doctoral program; an entirely online doctoral program about to launch; and 50-65 online graduate courses offered each semester. These offerings need to mushroom, and they need to model excellence. The success of the new and growing online programs and courses and the across-the-board online resources and services that support their success are critical to boost the capacity and confidence of other departments to increase online courses and programs, particularly for graduate programs that are under-subscribed by Hispanic students. The proposed project emphasizes: (1) professional development of faculty, staff, and graduate students as a strategy to use the university’s greatest assets to its best advantage in developing online graduate education; (2) developing the wealth of online resources and services and Library electronic holdings needed to make online graduate education the highest quality; and (3) providing direct assistance to students to promote Hispanic enrollment and degree completion, particularly through supporting them to develop and publish research projects; rewarding meritorious academic performance with paid Peer Consultant positions; and supporting job internships. 

*Major Five Year Project Objectives:*

1. To increase enrollment of Hispanic students in Fresno State’s online graduate programs by 25 percent during the five-year grant period (five percent increase each year over 2014-2015 baseline) and to sustain improved enrollment rate after the grant period with no additional federal cost. 

2. To increase 10 percent, over the five-year grant period, the number of online master’s, doctoral and first-professional degrees and postbaccalaureate certificates awarded at Fresno State. 

All project strategies are designed to significantly expand access to Fresno State’s Graduate Studies for Hispanic, low income, and/or first generation students; to bolster their performance; to support them in progressing swiftly toward degrees earned; and to support them in moving into satisfying highly skilled careers or Ph.D. programs.

**P031M140049**

**California State University Fullerton, CA**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) is the largest campus in the 23-campus California State University system, serving the Southern California region, particularly Orange County, with 34.1 percent of its 3,114,363 population identified as Hispanic. The total student body at CSUF, the only Hispanic Serving Institution in Orange County, of 37,677 (fall 2012) comprises no ethnic majority though 35 percent of its total student population is nearly. However, among graduate students, only 19.5 percent are Hispanic. Moreover, campus climate for graduate education is weak, as show through surveys of graduate student surveys from 2012 and 2013, where students report isolation, lack of department support, misguided advisement and lack of resources for graduate studies. Graduate rates and time-to-degree data show disparities between Hispanic and the general population.

The *Latina/o Graduate Students: SOAR (Strengthening Opportunities, Access and Resources) at CSUF*****project addresses the university’s institutional gaps and weaknesses, and serves to develop the campus climate for graduate education. The overarching project’s goal is to increase the number of Hispanic students who enroll in and achieve a graduate degree in a timely manner at CSUF, to which the project will foster meaningful engaged learning experiences for Hispanic students, expand academic offerings and enhance program quality that advance Hispanic and/or disadvantaged students in graduate education.

The project accomplishes these objectives by targeting three Activity areas: 1. Supporting Student Academic Achievement (with improved advising for entering and at risk students and online peer learning communities); 2. Improving Student Educational Engagement (with Graduate Student Success Center, scholarships, and a Latina/o graduate student club); and 3. Strengthening University Environment for Graduate Studies (with faculty development, new curriculum and a teaching/graduate assistant hiring system). Each of these three areas contains strategies and services directly improving Hispanic and disadvantaged student academic success and degree completion.

The project’s well-designed management plan crosses university divisions—academic affairs, student affairs and information technology—and includes management team, faculty coordinators and advisory committee. The assessment plan allows for informal and formal feedback, requires regular assessment providing for improvement in the plan, and will assist in institutionalizing services at the end of the grant-funded project.

**P031M140050**

**California State University Long Beach, CA**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

The overarching goal of Project HOGAR is to develop the graduate program of one of the nation’s largest HSI universities, both in terms of quality and in its capacity to significantly enhance post-baccalaureate opportunities and success for Hispanic and underserved students.

The five-year project goals are:

*Goal 1:*****Strengthen the University’s outreach efforts of Hispanic and underserved postbaccalaureate students by developing and implementing a comprehensive recruitment plan;

*Goal 2:*****Improve the experience and success of Hispanic and underserved postbaccalaureate students;

*Goal 3:*****Enhance the scholarship, research, and mentorship capacity of faculty to support Hispanic and underserved postbaccalaureate student success;

*Goal 4:*****Improve the University’s graduate-level infrastructure to support Hispanic and underserved postbaccalaureate student success.

The transition between undergraduate degree attainment and post-baccalaureate program entry represents a critical juncture in the pipeline for Hispanic and other underserved students. Unfortunately, many students with great potential are lost at this juncture, representing a leak of talent that could be developed to contribute to the leadership in the nation’s advanced workforce. Master’s programs provide critical opportunities for these students, who may have discovered career interests late in their undergraduate programs or may have faced challenges (e.g., financial or family obligations) that limited their ability to prepare for advanced professional programs.

Project HOGAR will establish for the first time in our University’s history a *Graduate Studies Resource Center (GSRC)*, which will facilitate and develop programmatic effectiveness and opportunities, with direct impact on Hispanic and underserved students. Our own pool of undergraduates who can benefit is tremendous: over 35 percent are Hispanic, in a student body of greater than 36,000. CSULB is ranked 11th nationally in awarding undergraduate degrees to Hispanics and 13th for underrepresented students generally. However, our graduate enrollment for Hispanics is significantly lower, and our graduate program is relatively small (12 percent of total enrollment) compared to other universities, including CSU campuses, despite our continuing advancement as a research-driven university. Project HOGAR represents a strategic plan endorsed by central administration that capitalizes on our existing strengths and the outstanding opportunity existing here in Long Beach to expand post-baccalaureate opportunities and impact the national disparities.

Program implementation will entail a campus-wide integrative process by which programs and infrastructure will be developed and strategically coordinated. Specific components include comprehensive outreach programs reaching Hispanic and underserved students, enhanced student engagement relating to graduate education and professional/career goals, facilitation of graduate research/scholarship, growth of cultural competency and scholarship excellence in faculty mentors, and development of the research infrastructure to support quality postbaccalaureate education. Project HOGAR and the emerging GSRC will serve as instruments to affect institutional change to foster these postbaccalaureate educational opportunities, research and scholarship excellence, and professional success of Hispanic Americans and underserved students.

**P031M140010**

**California State University Los Angeles, CA**

**Individual Development Grant**

**GRANT**

 California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State L.A.) is one of the largest Hispanic serving universities in the country. The campus is overall 56 percent Hispanic and 40 percent of graduate/post-baccalaureate students are Hispanic. Cal State L.A. ranks eighth for producing the most Hispanic B.A. graduates in California and ranks 26th in the nation for Hispanic Master’s graduates. However, in contrast to the 48 percent national average acceptance rate for Hispanic applicants to AAMC-accredited medical schools, only 35 percent of Cal State L.A. graduate/post-baccalaureate applicants are successful in gaining admission to a medical school. Similarly, industry, government and academic leaders have cited increasing the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce as a top national priority in order to improve the U.S. economy and maintain its competitiveness. Highlighting the problem of underrepresentation, Hispanic Americans constitute 39 percent of the California population but comprised only 7.7 percent of students accepted to medical school and only seven percent of the STEM/life science workforce. Forty-two federally designated Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) exist in Los Angeles County and 62 percent of them are within the Cal State L.A. service area. The Los Angeles Basin is also home to a burgeoning biotechnology industry. Thus, *there exists a substantial need to develop and improve Cal State L.A. programs aimed at increasing the number of competitive Hispanic applicants to pre-health professions schools and careers in the STEM/life science workforce*. Cal State L.A. is uniquely positioned to develop programs addressing these disparities. 

We propose a project composed of three components to expand and improve Cal State L.A. post-baccalaureate certificate programs as mechanisms for addressing Hispanic under-representation in the health professions and STEM/life science workforce. 

*Component One – Increasing Pre-Health Professions Certificate Program (PHPCP) outreach and impact.*****We will serve 20 “record-enhancer” PHPCP students and create a “career-changer” option within the PHPCP to serve an additional 10 students per year from underrepresented minority (URM) or low-income backgrounds. 

*Component Two – Increasing Biotechnology Certificate Program (Biotech-CP) outreach and impact.*****We will update and expand the Biotech-CP to serve 10 students per year from URM or low-income backgrounds with unique “biotechnology research academy” experience and biotechnology internships to facilitate job placement. 

*Component Three – Improve courses and management for Certificate and MS degree students.*****We will expand, update and improve course offerings and improve equipment maintenance for laboratory courses, benefitting all graduate students in the Biological Sciences. 

Accomplishing the proposed objectives will help ameliorate the disparities faced by Hispanic Americans in healthcare and the STEM/life science professions and serve as models for such endeavors around the nation.

**P031M140054**

**California State University Northridge, CA**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

California State University, Northridge (CSUN), one of 23 campuses in the California State University system with a Fall 2013 enrollment of 38,310 students, is among the largest single campus universities in the United States. CSUN is located in Los Angeles’ (LA) San Fernando Valley, an ethnically diverse community of 1.8 million residents, 40 percent of whom are Hispanic. CSUN draws most of its student body from LA and nearby counties, and our undergraduates reflect this diversity. And yet only 21.6 percent of CSUN’s graduate students are Hispanic. Our proposed project, *Charting Access for Hispanics Majoring in Needed Careers and Occupations in Healthcare (CAMINO)*, addresses the gap in success of our Hispanic graduate students, with a specific focus on our allied health disciplines, where employment opportunities are especially high but postbaccalaureate degrees and certificates are required for career entry. Health is now the nation’s fastest growing job sector, yet workforce shortages and lack of workforce diversity are persistent challenges at local, regional, and national levels. The overall purpose of our CAMINO project is to increase the capacity of CSUN to address specific needs of Hispanic postbaccalaureate students in health related disciplines and to improve their academic attainment in

order to ultimately increase Hispanic participation in the allied health profession.

Specifically, CAMINO****will:

1. Increase enrollment and academic attainment (persistence and graduation rates) of Hispanic students in allied health graduate programs;

2. Expand and enhance curriculum to address and strengthen skill gaps and improve Hispanic student engagement and career entry; and

3. Increase faculty capacity to plan and implement culturally appropriate instruction and advisement to Hispanic graduate students.

Our strategies to achieve these goals consist of the following:

· Providing support and engagement opportunities for our Hispanic graduate students through formalized academic, service, and social networks including a student learning community and peer mentoring; expanded academic support through a structured peer tutoring program; enhanced research opportunities through research assistantships; outreach activities to engage families in the academic program; and financial support;

· Creating professional development activities in areas such as leadership and communication that will be essential in helping our Hispanic students prepare for career entry and management and leadership roles in the allied health field, and developing curriculum to address emerging workforce opportunities where demand for Hispanic practitioners is particularly high; and

· Engaging faculty in development activities through a faculty learning community to identify and apply pedagogical and mentoring strategies that foster Hispanic student success, including culturally competent mentoring and holistic admissions processes.

By improving the success of our graduate students in allied health, we will positively impact social and economic outcomes not only for our campus, but also for our regional and state communities.

**P031M140002**

**Mount St. Mary’s College, CA**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Mount St. Mary’s College is strengthening graduate programs and is ready to focus to expand its services, develop new degrees, and set up a graduate student data base. The Doheny Campus, home of the graduate programs, is in downtown Los Angeles (LA). Historically, the small, four-year liberal arts college has been far more inclusive of high-risk students than similar colleges in the region. This long-term Commitment has risks and responsibilities.  *Students are 35 percent Hispanic, 9 percent Asian, 10 percent African American, 47 percent low income, 75 percent have large loan debt, 32 percent are first generation, and 54 percent are working 31-40 hours a week.*

*This project addresses the following problems, gaps and weaknesses:*

1. More under-served students need support services in order to complete graduate degrees. 

2. Student debt is limiting the number of Hispanic graduate students who complete their degrees. 

3. Adult students’ have competing priorities of home, work and academic lives. Busy lives require 24/7 online support services. They also need online programs to complete degrees faster. 

4. Faculty training and development is needed for extensive curriculum and pedagogical work. 

5. Current health-related and Humanities graduate degrees badly need updating to meet the needs of high-demand professions in the LA area. 

6. Students need direct experience in Hispanic agencies and businesses in the L.A. area. 

7. Students have a right to know about success rates of graduate degree programs in terms of employability; a systematic way to collect data and track student progress is critical.

*Primary Objective*: Increase the number and proportion of Hispanic students enrolling and completing graduate degrees and reduce time to degrees.

**P031M140034**

**Woodbury University, CA**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Woodbury University is a private, nonprofit Hispanic-Serving University in southern California. In 1884, when Los Angeles was a growing city of 16,000, educator and entrepreneur F.C. Woodbury founded Woodbury Business College to serve the local business community, a link that has remained through the years. For its first century, Woodbury was located in central Los Angeles, adding the division of professional arts in 1931 to serve business-allied design fields. In 1969, Woodbury launched an MBA program to become Woodbury University. More undergraduate majors, graduate degrees, and academic programs for working adults were added, and in 1987, Woodbury built a 22-acre main campus in Burbank. The University now also operates several other sites; the San Diego campus, which enrolls more than 100 students, is dedicated exclusively to architecture. 

The University offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate degrees organized in the four Schools of Architecture; Media, Culture, and Design; Business; and Transdisciplinary Studies. Our Mission Statement reflects this broad scope of programming: “Woodbury University empowers people to do extraordinary things. We transform students into liberally educated professionals and socially responsible citizens by integrating transdisciplinarity, design thinking, entrepreneurship, and civic engagement into all programs. We achieve academic excellence by creating partnerships, implementing effective internal processes, and ensuring quality in all programs and services.” Governed by 27 education and community leaders with 5-year renewable appointments as Trustees, Woodbury is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and our programs by national boards for architecture, art, business, and design. Woodbury practices “liberal” admissions, accepting many students who reflect area disadvantage; 82 percent receive financial aid and 51 percent receive Pell Grants. Most come from L.A. and San Diego Counties, 48 percent and 32 percent Hispanic respectively, with rates of poverty and lower levels of income and education far higher than Caucasians’, and Woodbury is committed to extending opportunity to these and other low-income residents. 

The proposed PPOHA project will expand and enhance our existing Master of Interior Architecture (MIA) program, creating Research / Teaching Assistantships, Career / Academic Planning, Alumni Mentoring, Doctoral Admissions Support, and related academic and support services; extend it to the San Diego campus; and employ distance delivery mechanisms to increase instructional effectiveness. We will also conduct ongoing evaluation of the project to ensure the achievement of its objectives and provisions of the Government Procedures and Results Act (GPRA) that demonstrate project accountability, improvement through its years of operation, and lasting positive impact for the institution and the area we serve. Evaluation will produce results for each of the Department of Education’s Key Performance Measures (graduate enrollment / graduation and cost-effective program operation) that we will collect and report as requested during and after funding. 

**P031M140031**

**Adams State University, CO**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Adams State University (ASU) is Colorado’s premier four-year Hispanic-Serving Institution. As part of its vision of Inclusive Excellence, ASU embraces its role as a Hispanic-Serving Institution by seeking to provide Hispanic and low-income students with the educational opportunities and services they need to attain a degree and succeed in their chosen careers. 

Over the past seven years ASU has added four Master of Arts degrees and graduate enrollment has boomed (932 in Fall 2013), yet the graduate school lacks cohesiveness and visibility as a university presence. The four-year master’s degree attainment rate for Hispanic master’s students in the 2008 cohort was a mere 50 percent. The 2014 PPOHA funding opportunity will expand ASU’s foundation as a university by unifying its graduate school programming through the establishment of a Graduate Support Center (GSC) and academic support services that address the needs of its many Hispanic and low-income graduate students who wish to attain a master’s degree. For the first time, ASU graduate students, and Hispanic and low-income students in particular, will have comprehensive graduate center services and staff dedicated to assisting them in navigating graduate student life and the path to master’s completion. 

To improve the four-year master’s degree attainment rate for Hispanic and low-income students by 15 percent over the grant period, ASU’s PPOHA project focuses strategically on three project goals, which will ground the creation of the GSC and establish a campus and an online presence that supports graduate student success:

1) *Graduate Student Support Services*: Develop and implement the infrastructure for graduate level academic support services, both on campus and online, to support graduate student success and degree completion; 

2) *Financial Support for Graduate Students*: Provide financial support or incentives to increase access to and persistence in graduate school for Hispanic and low-income students; 

3) *Faculty and Staff Learning Communities:* Improve ASU faculty and staff capacity for providing services to Hispanic and low-income graduate students through professional development and best practice sharing. 

To achieve the project’s objectives, ASU’s Graduate Support Center will design and coordinate a series of academic and professional skill-building workshops, a team of Alumni Mentors, access to streamlined university processes, and incentive stipends and graduate assistantships to connect graduate students to the resources they need for academic success. The capacity of faculty and staff to engage ASU’s more than 500 Hispanic and low-income graduate students and address their academic support needs will increase substantially through the project’s professional development and best practice sharing activities. Data analysis will support activity improvements continuously throughout the project.

**P031M140015**

**Nova Southeastern University, FL**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

As our technology-driven society becomes increasingly complex, an advanced degree has become an expectation for many competitive and financially rewarding Computer Science positions. However, when compared to overall population diversity, the number and proportion of Hispanic/Latinos seeking and earning graduate degrees, especially in fields related to the Computer Sciences, remains sorely lacking.

NSU has extensive experience developing Title V and other innovative programs, and is a recognized leader in higher education programming that is responsive to an increasingly diverse America’s need for a highly educated workforce. This project is designed to address identified roadblocks to graduate student success, and to increase NSU’s sustainable capacity to increase enrollment, retention, and graduation measures of success among Hispanic/Latino and other underrepresented and low income graduate students by developing and pilot testing research driven, culturally-informed shifts in curriculum, instruction, and support services in six targeted Computer Science-related graduate certificate, Master’s Degree, and Ph.D. programs.

The project goal is to build a flexible, supportive, and effective academic pathway as students with Bachelor’s Degrees efficiently transition to (and through) Computer Science-related graduate degrees. Measurable outcome objectives include: (1) increasing the number and/or percentage of Hispanic/Latino and other students pursuing targeted Computer Science-related graduate degrees (strategies: strengthened outreach programming); (2) increasing the number of targeted Computer Science-related graduate degrees awarded at NSU, and/or the graduation rate, especially among Hispanic/Latino students (strategies: modifications in curriculum and instruction, including the exploration of a more formalized assessment of student knowledge, interests, and skills at the time of admission; the development of more meaningful and impactful faculty-student relationships through strengthened faculty mentoring); and (3) designing a more seamless pathway to success from baccalaureate to graduate studies to career (strategies: providing new and enhanced programs and services via a new Graduate Student Center, with a specific focus on student involvement in high quality research and industry experiences and continuous academic and career planning and advisement; faculty development targeting online instruction, coupled with an increased understanding of the incorporation of cultural difference into academic approaches to learning).

Based on projected milestones for the overall target population and for Hispanic/Latino students in particular, NSU expects outcomes at the end of the grant period (compared to baseline) to include a 20 percent growth in enrollment, a six percent increase in graduation numbers and/or rates among targeted graduate certificate and Master’s Degree students, a five percentage point increase in fall-to-fall retention among targeted Ph.D. students, and 20 percent growth in the number of students in the targeted programs benefitting from enhanced programs and support services. With PPOHA grant support, Hispanic/Latinos, as well as other underrepresented and low income students, will benefit from: (1) reduced time to degree; (2) fewer impediments to learning, as needs are more proactively anticipated and addressed; (3) sustainable changes to curriculum content and instructional approaches; and (4) an expanded support model that identifies and effectively addresses student needs upon admission through graduation.

**P031M140020**

**New Mexico Highlands University, NM**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

For more than a century, New Mexico Highlands University (Highlands) has served as a leading academic, cultural and economic engine for the primarily Hispanic communities of Northern New Mexico. Now in its 120th year, Highlands is recognized as a Hispanic Serving Institution and is one of the founding members of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU). 

The U.S. Census Bureau (2010) reports that the higher educational attainment (Bachelor degree or higher) for Hispanics (ages 25-29) is 18 percent and less than other ethnic/racial groups in the country. With this set of realities, the postsecondary education of America’s key population falls to individual institutions of higher education to offer the connections necessary to educate the nation’s Hispanic workforce. New Mexico (NM) is a key state in this effort. 

Highlands proposes to address the higher education attainment disparity that exists for Hispanics in New Mexico and the nation. The *CONECTADO*****project will offer three education online Master in Arts degrees: Curriculum and Instruction with emphasis in Early Childhood Multicultural Education; Rehabilitation Counseling; and Special Education. Instructional technology will be used to support the faculty in converting and offering the programs online. Graduate students will be supported financially and systemically for post baccalaureate degree attainment. Faculty will be supported through professional development. 

The program goal is: *Expand post baccalaureate education opportunities for Hispanics across NM in high employment need areas through online programs in Curriculum and Instruction, Rehabilitation counseling, and Special Education.*

The project will have three measurable and significant outcomes:

(1) Increased percentage of part-time and full-time degree-seeking Highlands’ graduate students enrolled in the three online programs; 

(2) Increased percentage of degree-seeking graduate students who were in their first year of enrollment in the previous year and are enrolled in the current year (retention); and 

(3) Increased percentage of Master Degrees awarded at Highlands by the three online programs.

**P031140042**

**Dewey University, PR**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Dewey University (Dewey) is a private, nonprofit, Hispanic-Serving Institution, an urban college located in Puerto Rico’s capital city of San Juan. Dewey began offering graduate programs in 2011 with the introduction of a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program, a natural progression from its well-established undergraduate healthcare programs. Dewey’s graduate student population is 100 percent Hispanic, average age of 34, and average income of $28,167. Our service area is the entirety of our small island (35 miles x 100 miles), which is severely economically distressed. The median household income for Puerto Rico residents is $19,515 and nearly half of the population lives in poverty (45.1 percent). Additionally, the unemployment rate is alarmingly high (14.1 percent in April 2014), an indicator of the economic stagnation the island has experienced since 2006. 

There is a well-documented shortage of nurses in the United States and Puerto Rico, which is exacerbated by the immigration of Puerto Rican nurses to Florida and other states that are actively recruiting Spanish-speaking nurses from PR. This situation presents an opportunity for Dewey to prepare students to enter the nursing profession at a time when demand for nurses is on the rise, with no expectation of a slow-down in demand. Dewey is well poised to prepare students to enter the promising field of nursing. Enrollment in the recently established MSN program doubled between the first and second year of the program offering. This dramatic increase occurred at a time when many institutions of higher education were experiencing declining enrollment. In order to capitalize on this opportunity and further expand career options for disadvantaged students, however, Dewey must first overcome institutional gaps/weaknesses, which revolve around the following issues: inadequate instructional facilities/equipment, absence of systematic graduate support services, a significant gap in academic programming, inflexible graduate course offerings, and insufficient response to graduate students’ need for financial assistance. 

Dewey’s gaps and weaknesses will be strategically addressed through this Title V, Part B (PPOHA) project, which proposes the following:

· Develop a Graduate Center with appropriate resources for meeting graduate student needs; 

· Develop and pilot graduate support services to foster success in graduate school; 

· Develop and equip a Simulation Lab to provide 21st century instructional tools; 

· Develop and pilot two new MSN specializations (Oncology and Critical Care); 

· Convert and pilot key core nursing courses for hybrid delivery; 

· Equip classrooms with instructional technology to support graduate nursing students; and

· Provide fellowships to qualified students to address the financial needs of our students. 

In the process of designing this Activity, Dewey researched graduate nursing programs at top tier universities to identify creative or innovative approaches from which our graduate students can benefit. Thus, this project will build on identified successful instructional models as we develop the initiatives described above, enabling our University to create up-to-date, relevant, and engaging programs of study to benefit a large number of Hispanic graduate students.

**P031M140052**

**Inter American University of Puerto Rico San German, PR**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Inter American University of Puerto Rico (IAUPR-SG), founded in 1912 in San Germán, is home of the proposing Campus. With a tradition of community service and a full P-K to graduate level innovative educational offering, it has remained the largest private non-profit institution of higher learning on the Island. IAUPR-SG master’s degree programs are offered in Education, Business Administration, Psychology, TESL (Teachers of English as a Second Language), Fine Arts, Music, Library and Information Sciences, Applied Mathematics, and Environmental Sciences. Doctoral programs are offered in Education, Entrepreneurial and Managerial Development, and Psychology. Fall 2013 graduate enrollment was 782, of which 28 percent are doctoral students and 72 percent are in the master’s programs, 99 percent are Hispanic, 70 percent women, and 90 percent require loans or other funding to finance their studies. 

Current Campus assessments show a need for more specialized graduate concentrations within the School of Education, Business, the Social and Natural Sciences. This project seeks to expand the Institution’s capacity to recruit, enroll, retain and prepare higher numbers of current and future graduate students in IAUPR-SG’s Graduate School, while emphasizing and strengthening the research focus of the programs by developing a Research Methods Professional Certificate Program to improve professional opportunities for our graduates and others interested. Funds are sought to renovate 50-year-old, semi-open, multiple-use structure to provide needed space to house all of the Graduate Studies Center programs, establish the Graduate Research Center and strengthen graduation completion with quality support services that would add instructional and academic support space.

**P031M140030**

**San Juan Bautista School of Medicine, PR**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

San Juan Bautista School of Medicine (SJBSM), a Hispanic-Serving Institution, is a private, not for profit medical school located in Caguas, in the east-central region of Puerto Rico. In Fall 2013, SJBSM’s enrollment (medical and graduate students) was 268, with 61 percent being low-income and 85 percent of the master’s level graduate students working while attending classes. SJBSM serves residents from the entire island of Puerto Rico, small in size (35 miles x 100 miles) and severely economically distressed. The median household income for Puerto Rico residents is $19,515 and nearly half of the population lives in poverty (45.1 percent). Additionally, the unemployment rate is alarmingly high (14.1 percent in April 2014). 

The shortage of medical doctors reported by the Association of American Medical Colleges and other healthcare organizations presents an opportunity for SJBSM to prepare students to enter the medical profession at a time when demand for doctors is expected to increase. In order to capitalize on this opportunity, however, SJBSM must first overcome institutional gaps or weaknesses limiting its ability to properly prepare its students. Those weaknesses revolve around the following issues: inadequate instructional facilities/equipment and instrumentation/ IT network infrastructure, as well as curriculum that is not aligned with instructional use of modern technology/instrumentation, inflexible graduate course offerings, and insufficient response to medical and graduate students’ need for financial assistance. 

SJBSM’s severe deficiencies will be strategically addressed through this Title V, Part B (PPOHA) Activity, which proposes to:

· Renovate existing space to create a top-level instructional facility (Simulation Lab); 

· Equip proposed Simulation Lab with modern equipment to effectively train medical students; 

· Equip the Research Core Lab with advanced science instrumentation to enhance instruction; 

· Enhance information technology infrastructure to increase capacity for offering online courses; 

· Revise/pilot existing curricula to integrate instructional strategies for using new equipment; 

· Convert and pilot the existing MPH academic program for distance delivery (100 percent online); and

· Develop and administer a graduate PPOHA scholarship program. 

In the process of designing this Activity, SJBSM researched other medical and public health programs at top tier universities to identify creative or innovative approaches from which our students can benefit. As a result, the proposed project will build on identified successful instructional models as we develop the initiatives described above, enabling our institution to create up-to-date, relevant, and engaging medical and graduate programs of study to benefit a large number of Hispanic students.

**P031M140035**

**University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez, PR**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez (UPRM) is a Hispanic Serving Institution in Mayaguez Puerto Rico, with 11,353 enrolled undergraduates and 954 graduate students in the last academic year. The majority of students are from disadvantaged backgrounds, with 65 percent receiving the Pell grant, and 97 percent being Hispanic American. Enrollment in graduate programs has decreased by 12 percent in the past five years. This change has prompted the University to prioritize attracting and retaining low-income Hispanic students into graduate programs with high job marketability, as well as providing research and support infrastructure that will facilitate their success in these competitive fields. Based on several student needs and institutional assessments, issues identified included problems with physical infrastructure (sparse availability of laboratory and other facilities to conduct research) and deficiency in services supporting research (i.e., library resources and English writing assistance). Of the 11 campuses of UPR, Mayaguez is distinguished for its STEM focus, producing the highest number of Hispanic engineering graduates in the United States and being the only one on the island to offer graduate degrees in engineering and agriculture. Federal and local government priorities, as well as student interest, guided UPRM in expanding its graduate degree offerings, creating two new Master of Science programs in Bioengineering and Materials Science & Engineering, and three new Ph.D. programs in Bioengineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering. A new Ph.D. degree in Tropical Agriculture is also in development.

The proposed Transformational Initiative for Graduate Education and Research (TIGER) seeks to construct the necessary institutional platform that will increase opportunities for success in the PPOHA target population, enhancing competitive educational offerings, while simultaneously providing key resources to jump-start their research careers. The proposed program will:

1. Expand post-baccalaureate opportunities in engineering related to biomedical and aerospace fields;

2. Enhance graduate research experiences in sustainable agriculture; and

3. Create collaborative pathways for graduate student success.

TIGER will integrate graduate education in critical areas for economic development with robust experiential learning, bolstered by three new research core facilities: i) Small Animal Research Laboratory; ii) Aerospace Design and Prototyping Laboratory; and iii) a Thermal Processing Laboratory for Biomedical and Aerospace Applications. The program will also enhance experiential research opportunities in UPRM’s Alzamora Educational Farm. Low-income participants, key stakeholders in TIGER, will benefit from a world-class research environment and education. TIGER will provide them personalized guidance and tutoring built on the establishment of a Graduate Research and Innovation Center, a technology-infused, collaborative learning space. Thirty TIGER fellows will receive assistantships, which include additional competitive travel awards to enhance their graduate training in top research venues in the United States.

The establishment of TIGER will allow UPRM to more effectively support cohorts of low income graduate students, who will be highly trained to take on the most challenging and enriching professional opportunities in an increasingly competitive job market.

**P031M140027**

**St. Mary’s University Texas, TX**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Located in San Antonio, Texas (population 2.3 million), about 150 miles from the Mexico border, St. Mary’s University (StMU) is a four-year, private, liberal arts institution with a rich history of extending educational opportunities to disadvantaged area residents. StMU was the first higher education institution in San Antonio and is the oldest Catholic university in Texas, having been founded by the Society of Mary in 1852. Currently, StMU serves 1,475 graduate students (31 percent Hispanic) and 2,393 undergraduate students (72 percent Hispanic). The University is home to renowned graduate programs in business and law and is known for its solid, traditional academic offerings, including 64 undergraduate programs, 21 master’s level programs in Engineering, Computer Science, Business, the Humanities, and the Social Sciences; and doctoral-level degrees in Counseling/Therapy and Law. Responding to regional need, StMU offers one of only two accredited doctoral programs in Marriage and Family Therapy in the state and the only dedicated Software Engineering master’s program in our area. 

Despite numerous institutional strengths, StMU’s graduate enrollment has declined 12.2 percent over the past three years, underscoring the urgent need to employ new strategies to promote access to the University’s programs. A key concern is the University’s limited online presence. Institutional analysis has revealed that an increasing number of graduate students are working while attending (73 percent; 51 percent work full-time), and over a quarter (27 percent) of StMU graduate students balance studies with parenting responsibilities. Considering distance education as the next step in our growth as an institution, StMU is poised to revamp our online learning system and expand our online graduate offerings in order to provide increased access to high quality, flexible programs. At the same time, we recognize that we must support our students’ success, but currently, we offer few flexible or targeted services that address the challenges that graduate students face when pursuing a postbaccalaureate degree. Project initiatives are designed to couple increased access to StMU’s graduate programs with innovative approaches to graduate student services to increase both postbaccalaureate enrollment and completion. 

StMU has designed a PPOHA project entitled, *Promoting Excellence in Graduate Education***,**which will directly address gaps and weaknesses that hinder the University from adequately serving the needs of Hispanic and disadvantaged postbaccalaureate students. To this end, StMU’s proposed activity includes three inter-related initiatives:

1. *Initiative 1: Strengthen and Expand Online Graduate Program Offerings*—StMU will upgrade its distance learning infrastructure to support dynamic online learning. With the appropriate tools in place, StMU will revise its existing International Relations online program and convert its Software Engineering M.S. and Marriage and Family Therapy M.A. degree programs, adhering to rigorous Quality Matters standards. Online faculty will receive training to become Quality Matters certified instructors. 

2. *Initiative 2: Develop Capacity for Community-Based Research*—StMU will develop a sustainable system for infusing practical, meaningful research opportunities from within the community into graduate coursework in order to bolster graduate student engagement. 

3. *Initiative 3: Develop Support for Graduate Student Success*—A technology-rich, Graduate Student Success Center will be established as a dedicated space for graduate student collaboration and research. Additionally, to promote improved persistence and completion, a series of targeted services will be developed as well as a system to award scholarships for student travel to conferences and fellowships to graduate students with unmet financial need.

**P031M140053**

**Sul Ross State University, TX**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Sul Ross State University (established1917), a Hispanic-Serving Institution is a *public, comprehensive, open-door institution*located in Alpine, Texas (pop. 6034). As the gateway to “Big Bend Country,” Sul Ross is the sole source of higher education in a vast, remote region.****Our rurally-isolated, low-income population is spread across a 19-county, 47,721 square-mile, sparsely populated service area. This region of west Texas contains a crucible of cultures: Native American, Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo. From the slowly winding Rio Grande River to the vast expanses of the Chihuahua Desert and Davis Mountains, the culturally rich but impoverished people along the 1,200-mile Texas-Mexico border have historically looked to Sul Ross for education that may lead to a new way of life. Virtually all of our students come from this economically and educationally disadvantaged region.

The purpose of the proposed PPOHA project, *Expanding Graduate Horizons*, is to increase the attainment of graduate degrees by Hispanic and low-income students. In order to do this, we must overcome identified barriers of distance, finances, and time that prospective students face. Through the initiatives outlined in this proposal, Sul Ross will address the gaps and weaknesses in our capacity to meet the community need. We will do this by developing new programs, strengthening existing programs, updating learning spaces, and improving graduate student support services. Our project design contains two components: 1) expand and enhance graduate educational offerings in high-demand fields (Natural Resource Management, Health and Human Performance, Criminal Justice, Educational Technology, and Geology); and 2) consolidate, centralize and improve disparate and underdeveloped graduate student services into coherent whole. Within these two components, our strategies include: developing new curricula and converting existing courses for online delivery, strengthening and expanding the capacity of face-to-face programs, strengthening graduate student services to increase accessibility for online students, and providing need-based financial aid to graduate students through competitive fellowships. Importantly, the project includes a comprehensive evaluation plan.

**P031M140021**

**Sul Ross State University Rio Grande College, TX**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Rio Grande College (RGC), a public university, serves a rural 13-county region of South Texas that Stretches 275 miles along the Rio Grande River and covers one-fourth (18,735 square miles) of the Texas/Mexico border. Comprised of three distinct campuses in the border towns of Del Rio, Eagle Pass and Uvalde, RGC is the only baccalaureate and graduate-level institution in its expansive, rural, and socio-economically disadvantaged service area which is home to more than 295,000 residents. The region is best described as majority/minority (69.7 percent Hispanic), economically disadvantaged (42.5 percent of families are low-income; 23.2 percent of individuals live in poverty), and poorly educated (30.8 percent of adults did not complete high school; only 15 percent have a bachelor’s degree; fewer than 5 percent completed an advanced degree). 

RGC has traditionally enrolled a population that is Hispanic (90 percent undergraduate; 78 percent graduate) and low income (80 percent undergraduate; 46 percent graduate) and most students are the first in their family to pursue higher education. Offering Bachelor of Arts, science, applied science, education, and business administration as well as master’s level programs, RGC has built a strong and positive reputation within its service area. The vast majority of RGC’s enrollment (both graduate and undergraduate) has been in education-related degree programs and more than 60 percent of educators in the 30 rural school districts located within the RGC service area have obtained one or more degrees or credentials from this institution. RGC has awarded more than 6,000 bachelor and master’s degrees since its inception, and well over 70 percent of these awards have been to Hispanic students. However, expansion of academic programming across the service region has been difficult for RGC and identified weaknesses are impeding the institution from increasing access to post-baccalaureate degree programs to area residents in need. 

Increasing access to graduate degree programs has never been more critical for RGC, given emerging career opportunities in the region’s current education and economic climate. Expanding post baccalaureate access requires significant curriculum development as well as implementation of classroom technology and an increase in faculty numbers at RGC. In addition, challenged by personal (limited finances, family and employment obligations) as well as institutional (limited course offerings due to space and faculty limitations) the average time to master’s degree completion has been unacceptably high – 10.4 semesters on average. And, at 41.7 percent, RGC’s master’s cohort graduation rate within three years of enrollment falls well below U.S. average of 69.9 percent for all and 51.3 percent for Hispanics.

Through this PPOHA application, we propose a comprehensive project for: *Expanding Postbaccalaureate Access along the Rural South Texas Border*****focused on: 

1) *Increasing Access via Expanded Instructional Facilities & Curriculum Development*(traditional, interactive video, & online)****RGC will develop five new degree options within the existing Master in Education (M. Ed) degree creating an M. Ed with College Teaching Specialization with five new concentrations. 

2) *Improving Graduate Degree Attainment through Development of a Graduate Student Support Center (GSSC):*****RGC’s GSSC will provide writing assistance resources, research resources, as well as academic and professional development seminars and web-based modules to enhance and improve academic, career, and personal skills of graduate students. 

3) *Increasing Post-Baccalaureate Access and Improving Degree Attainment through Scholarships*: To assist low-income graduate students, we will award a minimum of 285 scholarships over the five-year grant period. Recipients will be required to maintain a minimum GPA and maintain a minimum credit hour enrollment each semester, encouraging continual and timely progression through their degree program.

(10/15/2014)

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