# 

# U. S. Department of Education

# FY 2015 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 November 3, 2014 (79 FR 65197).  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 2015 was $525,000 per year and the maximum award amount for Cooperative Development Grants was $650,000 per year. The average grant award was $544,941.

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) 2015 was published in the Federal Register on March 20, 2015 (80 FR 14974).  The deadline for the transmittal of applications was May 19, 2015. Applications for grants under the FY 2015 Hispanic–Serving Institutions grant competition were submitted electronically using Grants.gov and they were reviewed by a panel of three external grant reviewers.  Two-hundred-eleven grant applications were reviewed; 96 awards were made. Total funding was $51,066,641.

## Table of Contents

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

**Cooperative Development Grants**

**Individual Development Grants**

### P031S150219

### Fresno City College, CA

### Reedley College, CA

### Cooperative Development Grant

**Abstract**

Fresno City College (FCC) (*lead institution*) and Reedley College (RC), which are separately accredited colleges within California’s State Center Community College District (SCCCD) that encompasses two Hispanic Serving Institutions and their associated centers, request a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to implement student success strategies which deploy instructional and student services technology to reach and support Hispanic and other low-income, rural students in the district’s service area who are fairly isolated from even the closest higher educational facilities. 

This goal is challenged by immediate need to incorporate current district services in student services and academic support areas with emerging California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) statewide services.  Currently in pilot with SCCCD campuses, these services will be phasing into implementation over the next five years.  The FCC Title V Collaborative intends to ensure proactive integration of these services, electronic tablets to allow low-income students access to update platforms, and vital student, faculty and staff training to guarantee a seamless transition into this new Online Student Success Center environment.

Through the institutionalization of primary positions, FCC and SCCCD demonstrate their commitment to ensuring access and success for Hispanic and low-income students past the term of grant funding.

### P031S150126

### Los Angeles Valley College, CA

### East Los Angeles College, CA

### Los Angeles Trade -Technical College, CA

### Cooperative Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

**Applicant Institution:***Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC)*is a two-year public college located in the heart of Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley. The college offers transfer education, job training and lifelong learning to residents of the San Fernando Valley and beyond.

**Cooperative Institutions**.  *East Los Angeles College (ELAC)*is the largest Hispanic-serving community college in the United States, located in Monterey Park.  *Los Angeles Trade-Technical College (LATC)*is the oldest of the nine, public two-year colleges in the District (LACCD), and is centrally located in downtown Los Angeles.

*Project Title: **Engaging for Student Success***

This COOPERATIVE project is designed to significantly improve and institutionalize the instructional capacity at each of the three colleges. The activities are designed to address three significant problems: low rates of progress from Basic Skills to College-Level courses; low persistence during the first year that students enroll in college; and low completion rates, compounded by excessive amounts of time to graduate, attain degrees or transfer.

Strategies and practices implemented in this project are planned for *continuation*after being developed, pilot-tested and institutionalized. The Endowment Match will further ensure continued resources post the grant period. During the five-year grant period the Cooperative colleges will implement a two-component activity as outlined below:

### P031S150145

### San Jose City College, CA

### University of California – Santa Cruz, CA

### Cooperative Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

The principal goal of the *Cultivamos Excelencia*Project is to motivate and retain Hispanic and other high-need students to complete a degree at a research university.  By working together, San Jose City College and University of California-Santa Cruz will use a combination of tutoring, mentoring, research skills instruction, transfer advising and, perhaps most important, participation in undergraduate research experiences to encourage self-efficacy, skill development and motivation to complete their bachelor degrees on-time and with highly honed set of analytical and writing skills.  By developing and delivering Research Methods courses for transfer credit, and summer undergraduate research experiences that will give them university credit for community college tuition, the project will give students, who might not think they can succeed at an research university, a head start at that university.

To achieve this goal, the Project has developed the following eight objectives:

· The percentage of two-year college Hispanic students transferring will increase from 33 percent to 43 percent by the end of the grant period.

· 90 percent of community college students in the program will maintain a 3.2 or higher GPA.

· 90 percent of program students who transfer to the university will maintain a 2.8 or higher GPA

· The percentage of program students who transfer and are retained from Fall semester to Fall semester will increase from 91 percent to 95 percent.  (Starting year three through year five)

· The time-to-graduation for students in the project from their first enrollment at SJCC to graduation at UCSC will decrease by one year.

· The number of Hispanic transfer students graduating within six years of their initial enrollment will increase from 77 percent to 80 percent.

· Eighteen Programs, or 75 percent of Cultivamos Excelencia Project programs, will continue working relationships in some form at the end of the grant period among faculty at the two institutions.

· Within five years, there will be a sustainability commitment by both institutions to continue the program.

The total amount requested is $3,248,296. It includes the following breakdown between institutions:

### P031S150037

### California State University-Bakersfield, CA

### Bakersfield College, CA

### Cooperative Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

**Increasing the Productivity of the Engineering Degree Pipeline in the High Needs Southern**

**San Joaquin Valley: A Sound Cooperative Arrangement Project with Bakersfield College**California State University-Bakersfield (CSUB), the lead college in this cooperative arrangement project, is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. CSUB is the only four- year public institution of higher education within a 100-mile radius of Bakersfield.  Bakersfield College (BC), the partner institution in this project, was founded in 1913 and is the oldest continually operating community college in California. Located just 10 miles from each other, CSUB and BC face similar challenges serving a high need area. **This project addresses all Title V Priorities and is a geographically and economically sound cooperative arrangement.**

**Goal 1:** To develop a new CSUB Power/Energy Engineering track that is responsive to student and local industry needs and is designed with a liberal engineering framework using pedagogy and methods known to increase learning.

**Goal 2:**To increase postsecondary access and success of local Hispanic and other high need students through intersegmental collaboration and development of an equitable, seamless, and scaffolded degree pathway from high school to completion.

**Goal 3:**To increase CSUB degree completion productivity through development of new, well-designed institutional STEM capacity that is responsive to student and service area needs.

**Objectives:**

1. To increase enrollment in CSUB’s new engineering program by 20 students each grant year and reach the sustainability-ensuring level of at least 90 FTES by year 5, with Hispanic students equitably represented compared to overall enrollment ***(Related to Goals 1, 3)****.*

2. To increase by 2 percent each year the retention, success, and persistence rates in the new engineering track by continuously monitoring student achievement using data- driven improvements. ***(Related to Goals 1, 3).***

3. To increase the number of BC students who are formally enrolled in a fully-articulated curriculum in engineering with an approved plan for transfer on schedule, and increase the number of Hispanic and other underrepresented students who complete all pathway preparation in engineering at BC on schedule. ***(Related to Goals 2, 3).***

4. To eliminate the gap between CSUB’s six-year graduation rate for CC transfers (5.5 percent gap) and first-time freshman (12 percent gap) as compared to the statewide average. (***Related to Goal 1, 3).***

5. To double the number of Hispanic students, including transfers, who complete CSUB STEM degrees over 2014 baseline ***(Related to Goals 1, 2, 3).***

### P031S150002

### Oxnard College/Ventura County Community College District, CA

### CSU Channel Islands, CA

### Cooperative Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

This cooperative project creates the *Adelante academic and transfer pathways*for *high-need students*at *critical transition points*in the two- to four-year pipeline for our overwhelmingly high population of first generation, under-represented and low income students by: a) *creating a first*

*year experience*that *immediately*incorporates “*transfer discussions and educational plannin*g” 

to a four-year institution and/or career;  integrates learning communities across disciplines; incorporates academic hybrid on-line curricular/student support capabilities; assigns first year OC students a CSUCI peer mentor and year-long activities; incorporates community/industry mentors to enhance self-efficacy, career awareness and leadership skills; embeds tutoring into

the classroom as well as on-line tutoring software that students can access 24 hours – 7 days and; integrates innovative technologies and software, devising an *early warning system*to monitor 

success, challenges and barriers that impact student’ persistence; b) *initiating high impact*

*practices to increase college readiness by:*developing and implementing a *dual-enrollment*

program with the local high schools; initiating bridges (Math and English booster programs); developing summer orientation programs for first year students and; enhancing outreach efforts to parents and students around college readiness, expectations, awareness and success; c)

*increasing distance learning/hybrid opportunities*and technologies development, as well as  focusing on *integrating student support services into curriculum*for students in developmental studies.

Through the sharing with its sister colleges, *Project Adelante*will allow the Ventura County Community College District to regionally build**its capacity and access to local high schools and the University to increase the number of high need under-represented and low-income students who graduate and transfer; and to build model student academic and student support success programs with these same partners.

### P031S150030

### Adams State University Alamosa, CO 

### Cooperative Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

CAMINOS: Increasing Access to Education and Opportunity in the Upper Rio Grande Region

As Title V Cooperative Project partners, Adams State University (ASU) and University of New Mexico-Taos (UNM-Taos) have combined resources and expertise to set forth new educational pathways that will particularly benefit the Hispanic and low-income populations in their rural region.  Overcoming the immense barriers of poverty, vast terrain, and the demands of working and/or family life poses great challenges for many potential students in northern New Mexico and south-central Colorado.  The region’s population is 51 percent Hispanic and five percent Native American. Fewer than 21 percent of adults age 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree.  Forty-two percent of students at UNM- Taos and 18 percent of ASU’s students are age 25 plus. A quarter of the region’s families live in poverty.

The central goal of the *Caminos*project is: to increase access and academic opportunity for Hispanic and low-income students to support postsecondary degree completion in the Upper Rio Grande Region.  Through collaborative planning and research, ASU (four-year HSI) and UNM-Taos (two-year HSI) have identified *distance education*as an effective path to bridging geographical and other barriers that prevent many residents from attaining a degree.

Title V funding, collaboration, and resource sharing will build the capacity each institution needs to increase enrollment, persistence, and graduation rates of Hispanic and other high-need students (*Absolute Priority*).  Together, ASU and UNM-Taos will take a bold step forward in implementing improvements through distance technology innovations.  Successful distance education encompasses online, hybrid, and web-enhanced applications in instructional delivery and incorporates interactive tools such as video, threaded discussions, etc., that offer new approaches for effective and rewarding learning.  Drawing on each institution’s deep experience serving diverse students, the project partners will improve persistence and degree completion through three synchronized efforts:

1)  *Online Undergraduate Program Development*: Train faculty in online/hybrid instructional techniques and recognized standards that inspire world-class, high-quality distance courses; offer affordable degrees that prepare students for regional career opportunities;

2)  *Online Delivery of Academic Support Services*: Create evidence-based academic support services tailored to online student needs, including student orientations, college success courses, tutoring, mentoring, and academic advising to improve retention;

3)  *Infrastructure and Capacity Building*: Improve distance technology infrastructure and capacity; expand digital resources; build access/outreach in remote, rural communities.

Expected project outcomes include:  five percent annual increase in online student enrollment in years 1-5; 10 percent annual increase in number of transfers from associate’s to bachelor’s programs in years 3-5; More than double the number of distance degrees awarded at UNM-Taos/ASU by year 5;

five percent annual increase in persistence rates through innovative distance academic supports; Increased capacity and institutional stability/sustainability through growth of distance education: institutionalization of 10 plus positions, including academic support services for distance students.

### P031S150047

### Eastern New Mexico University, NM

### Clovis Community College, NM

### Cooperative Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU) in Portales, New Mexico, the lead institution, is a comprehensive public university granting associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees.  Clovis Community College (CCC), located in nearby Clovis, New Mexico, is a comprehensive community college granting certificates and associate degrees.  The primary service areas of ENMU and CCC overlap substantially and comprise an isolated rural area of small towns surrounded by ranching and other agricultural enterprises, characterized by low educational attainment and poverty.  Despite the presence of well-educated faculty and staff in the area, institutional service area exhibits lower rates of adults who hold bachelor’s degrees than the state and nation.  Poverty rates in these counties *exceed*those of New Mexico, one of the poorest states in the nation.  ENMU and CCC share significant history, strong working relationships, and high-need student populations with growing numbers of Hispanic and low-income students who are under-prepared for college and careers.  These needs translate into low persistence and completion rates. Further, staff and faculty diversity has not kept pace with students’ increasing diversity, creating a “disconnect” with the needs of our student populations. The two institutions also share work force challenges, particularly in the area of teacher education.  The partners believe that these challenges can best be met, and in some cases, can only be met, collaboratively.

*Persisting to Success*will address enhancing retention and completion rates for Hispanic and low-income students and preparing students for urgent workforce needs through three activities.

**Activity 1**:  *Enhancing Students’ College and Career Readiness.*The partners will revise the first-year experience on both campuses to enhance students’ career exploration opportunities and their financial literacy, and employ cognitive and non-cognitive persistence cues to address at-risk students.  Services and academic supports will be coordinated to support students throughout their first year and beyond.

**Activity 2**:  *Pipeline to Teaching Careers*.  The partners will add capacity to CCC teaching preparation programs and increase transfer and completion rates of teachers.

**Activity 3***:  Empowering Faculty, Staff and Administrators to enhance Student Success.*The partners will provide workshops and activities to strengthen faculty/staff effectiveness in addressing diverse learning styles, cultures, and special needs of students.

ENMU’s Fall 2014 undergraduate enrollment of 4,600 was 37 percent Hispanic, and 32 percent of Clovis’ 3,751 students were Hispanic, qualifying both as Hispanic-Serving Institutions.  Five-year outcomes for *Persisting to Success*include increasing freshmen retention (eight percent at ENMU, five percent at CCC); 15 percent increase in teacher education majors and in transfers into education programs from CCC to ENMU; and overall improved degree completion rates (five percent at CCC and ENMU).

### P031S150229

### University of New Mexico at Taos, NM

### Eastern New Mexico University – Roswell, NM

### Cooperative Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

This Title V Cooperative Arrangement Project, *“CUMBRES: (Communities Uniting to Model and Build Rural Entrepreneurial Success)”*combines the efforts of University of New Mexico at Taos (a two-year community college located in northern New Mexico) and Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell (a two-year community college located in southeastern New Mexico).  Together, these HSIs will address barriers of geography, distance and under-funded K-16 educational systems that limit each community’s access to quality career skills education and postsecondary programs.  In addition to building our individual and joint capacity to deliver high quality online, hybrid and web-enhanced programs, CUMBRES will develop an entrepreneurial mindset among our students to increase their persistence and improve retention and completion rates.

CUMBRES builds upon the strengths of both branch campuses, shares expertise and resources, and focuses Title V and institutional resources on “gaps” in the region’s “completion to career” pipeline.  The Project has two Activities: (1) building *Career Pathways*by strengthening distance learning capacities and joint efforts; increasing faculty proficiencies through professional development; and creating more effective career advising services for students at UNM-Taos and at ENMU-Roswell; and (2) Establish an Innovation Center (iCenter) at ENMU-Roswell with the purpose of developing and creating distance education programs in Entrepreneurialism, using the Entrepreneurial mindset to produce a new curriculum for First year student orientation and University Studies and establishing a joint “Career Resources” center at each campus.

The Project will have measurable and significant outcomes in three areas:  (1) increases in the numbers of Hispanics and other students completing Career Certification and Two-year degree programs; (2) increases in the number of Quality distance education courses (online and ITV) available to students across northern and southeastern New Mexico, including building the capacity of faculty to develop distance education courses and teach effectively in distance modes using the “Quality Matters” evaluation criteria for course design; and (3) increases in the retention, success and completion/graduation rates of students at ENMU-Roswell and UNM-Taos via our implementation of effective career and academic services and other retention strategies.

The project’s overall five-year budget of $2.85 million benefits each partner significantly and drives systemic capacity building at both campuses. CUMBRES addresses the Absolute Priority of the competition (access and success of high needs students), and both Competitive Preference Priorities (1. Programs designed to move rapidly into core courses and on to program completion; 2. High quality online and hybrid learning opportunities.)

### P031S150220

### New York City College of Technology, NY

### Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY, NY

### Cooperative Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

For many students, especially high-need students, mathematics “gateways” – the courses required to pursue study in STEM fields – appear as insurmountable barriers.  “Non-contributory credit accumulation,” another common phrase, is the experience of failure, sometimes repeated failure that deflects students from their chosen major and delays or even ends their journey to a degree.  In every college, a handful of courses and a few dozen professors have extraordinary impact on the prospects of our students for career advancement in STEM.

This project brings together two Hispanic-Serving Institutions within the City University of New York (CUNY), the nation’s largest public urban university system, to address this compelling national issue.  New York City College of Technology (City Tech) and Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) will participate in a cross-campus collaboration that will introduce open-source digital technologies, open educational resources, and active learning pedagogies into the sequence of high-enrollment mathematics courses required for STEM disciplines at each college.  Through an intensive pedagogical intervention that will impact more than 90 faculty and

3,100 students during the grant period, we seek to improve student achievement in these courses and advance their progress to the degree – opening the gateways to success in STEM.

Working together over a five-year period, the project teams will adapt courses in the foundational mathematics sequence to use WeBWorK, a free and open source online homework system supported by the Mathematical Association of America and the National Science Foundation .  The teams will design and develop a comprehensive suite of open educational resources (OERs) for each course, consisting of WeBWorK assignments, videos, and supporting materials.  In parallel, we will conduct a series of intensive year-long faculty development seminars that will enable full-time and adjunct faculty at each campus to implement these OERs successfully in their classes, introducing them not only to the technologies but also to engaging pedagogical strategies that have been proven effective with high-need students such as ours. Sessions will focus on active learning, high-impact educational practices, and problem-based learning, explore flipped classroom approaches, and equip participants with best practices for assessment and student advisement.

The project will be enhanced by use of the OpenLab, City Tech’s innovative open source digital platform for teaching, learning, and collaboration (created through Title V funding).  In addition to serving as the project’s shared communication space and resource exchange, the OpenLab will be further developed to integrate with the WeBWork platform – an important contribution that will not only benefit students and faculty at City Tech but also, since the code will be released publicly, the educational technology community worldwide.  All open educational resources, seminar materials, best practices, and lessons learned will be made freely and publicly available, amplifying the impact of the project’s work.

### P031S150097

### Universidad Politecnica de Puerto Rico, PR

### Colegio Universitario de San Juan, PR

### Cooperative Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Universidad Politecnica de Puerto Rico, (UPPR) and its partner, Colegio Universitario de San Juan (CUSJ), Hispanic-Serving Institutions, propose a cooperative project for funding under the Title V Strengthening Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program.  The proposed activity, *Alianza Para Accesso y Exito/Alliance for Student Access and Success*, is an extension of the institutions’ longstanding commitment to Hispanic or Latino, low-income, and other non-traditional student populations, and reflects the compatibility of their academic programs.  UPPR, the lead institution and fiscal agent, is a private, non-profit university offering an array of programs accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology UPPR is in the Hato Rey district of San Juan. CUSJ is a general purpose public college in the core city of San Juan, offering a variety of career and technical programs, as well as general education for students planning to transfer and pursue professional or specialized studies.  Together UPPR and CUSJ serve over 6,000 Hispanic or Latino students each regular term. Approximately two-thirds of UPPR students are eligible for and receiving need-based student aid, while more than 80 percent of CUSJ students do so.  The convergence of their curricular interests makes UPPR and CUSJ ideal partners for articulation of programs.  A longstanding, shared commitment to non-traditional and disadvantaged students of the region facilitates compatibility of philosophy and approach.

The institutions confront a variety of obstacles to student success, retention, and program completion, including basic skill deficiencies, low rates of transfer among many CUSJ students who could more fully realize their educational and career potential, and a deficiency of access to engineering programs due to circumstances of distance, work obligations, and urban congestion. Positive responses to these problems have been delayed due to scarcity of time and resources for faculty training and development of technology applications.  In both institutions, these problems have contributed to a decline in enrollment that threatens their long-term viability and the health of outstanding and needed programs.  In that UPPR has annually contributed more than seven percent of the U.S. Hispanic engineering graduates, this threat translates into a potential decrease in Hispanic engineers.  By better preparing students for transfer, CUSJ can help its students pursue desirable professional opportunities while extending its outreach to potential students.  UPPR and CUSJ propose to address identified challenges through one activity with three congruent strategies:

(1) Increasing rates of transfer from CUSJ to UPPR through development of articulation agreements and an array of transfer services to better prepare students who want to pursue UPPR engineering degrees, and to help them acquire tools and services for success and build mutually reinforcing and beneficial collaborative relationships with other students.

(2) Increasing access to UPPR engineering programs by developing online and hybrid delivery for junior and senior engineering courses, and strengthening CUSJ’s transfer curriculum by aligning selected courses for transfer and converting them for online or hybrid delivery.

(3) Developing techniques and technologies to facilitate improvement in the outcomes attained by UPPR and CUSJ students, through intensive faculty professional development.

UPPR’s strong engineering programs and capacity for management of course conversion processes and distance delivery technologies will be indispensable assets.  CUSJ’s curriculum and experience in building skills for academic success make it an ideal partner for this effort.

### P031S150206

### University of Houston - Downtown, TX

### Lone Star College Kingwood, TX

### Cooperative Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

***Pathways to Teaching Careers***

Pathways to Teaching Careers (PTC) is a collaborative initiative between the University of Houston Downtown (UHD) and Lone Star College Kingwood (LSC-KW).  UHD (14,439 students) and LSC-KW (20,055 students) have high-risk enrollments of minorities (80 percent at UHD and 54 percent at LSC-KW), first-generation college students (60 percent at UHD and 34 percent at LSC-KW), and 100 percent commuters, with about 59 percent of LSC-KW students providing care for dependents living in the home (e.g., parents, children, spouse, etc.).  These are all high risk factors for academic failure, and produce student populations that:  i) have relatively lower levels of college readiness skills; ii) lack adequate family guidance and financial support; iii) have excessive off-campus employment obligations/hours; and iv) other challenges, that cause them to prolong graduation, accumulate an excessive number of credit hours, and seem unfocused. 

With spiraling growth in the enrollments of such high risk students, amid UHD’s six-year graduation rate of 19.2 percent, and LSC-KW’s three-year graduation rate of 11 percent, **this collaborative seeks to provide a responsive pathway with built-in supports to prepare students for K-12 teaching credentials and careers.**The PTC program seeks to increase students’ success, persistence, and graduation by enrolling them in a structured, caring, and guided career-based curriculum that enables them to take fewer years (four-five years) to graduate as certified Bachelor’s or Master’s degree teachers for K-12 schools.  The PTC program uses conceptual frameworks and major elements of the CUNY’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP), recently evaluated by MDRC, and assessed by WWC as meeting *“WWC group design standards without reservations”*(May 2015), as well as curriculum mapping frameworks used by universities such as Florida International University.

### P031S150226

### University of Texas at San Antonio, TX

### San Antonio Alamo Community College District, TX

### Cooperative Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

PIVOT for Academic Success

To prepare, inspire, validate, orient, and transition (PIVOT) students at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and the San Antonio Alamo Community College District (ACCD) five campuses, PIVOT proposes four activities that support student-centered academic achievement across the partnering institutions.  PIVOT’s goals are to increase Hispanic, low SES, and first generation undergraduate transfer, retention, and graduation rates.

PIVOT’s integrated activities support student academic success by increasing: 1) the percentage of Alamo College two­year degree­seeking students who transfer to UTSA’s  four-year campus; 2) the number of students who pass Math 1073 with a grade of C or better, so that they are retained and prepared to move into upper­division course work; and 3) the retention and graduation rates of first-generation, Hispanic, transfer, and low SES students across the partnering campuses.

### P031S150053

### Texas State University, TX

### Del Mar College, TX

### Cooperative Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Texas State University, located in San Marcos, Texas, serves less than 36,000 students and is one of the largest Hispanic-serving universities in America. This commitment to access and opportunity is also reflected in Texas State’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. Del Mar College (DMC) is a community college located in Corpus Christi, Texas, which offers a wide variety of academic and vocational programs. DMC is designated as a Hispanic-serving institution, with 58 percent of its student population being Hispanic.

Activity 1:  Graduation Success Centers at Texas State University and Del Mar College. To enhance student preparation for the transition to the university (from Del Mar College) or to the workforce (from Texas State University and Del Mar College) or graduate / professional schools (Texas State University), a one-stop shop for students nearing completion of associate, baccalaureate and certificate degree programs will be developed. These Centers will serve students at risk of failing to complete degree programs.

Activity 2:  Career Readiness Institutes at Texas State University and Del Mar College. To respond to increasing demands for “soft skills” among college graduates, a Career Readiness Institute will provide opportunities for student, faculty, and staff development.  A curriculum will be developed for students and a workshop series will be planned. Students completing a minimum of 85 percent of workshops in the series will receive a Title V Career Readiness Institute certificate. Faculty and staff will be invited to participate in a workshop held during the summer where plans for implementing a career readiness unit into classes will be developed.

Measurable Outcomes. Project evaluation will assess achievement of the following TXST – DMC Title V goals: Academic achievement of participants [participant aggregate GPA supported by graduation coaching compared to non-participating peers]; Persistence to the degree completion for participants [total number of aggregate semester and cumulative GPA / semester credit hours completed annually following participation (goal = 2.5 percent improvement) compared to peers; Degree completion / graduation / transfer rates for participants [percent completed / graduated compared to percent  not receiving services completed / graduated (goal = 2.5 percent improvement)]; Number of financial transition plans completed for at-risk groups [number of plans completed annually (goal = 2.5 percent annual improvement)]; Number of Career Readiness Certifications obtained [number of certifications received annually (goal = 2.5 percent annual improvement)]; Number of classes with embedded career readiness units [number of classes annually (goal = 2.5 percent annual improvement)].

This Cooperative Arrangement Development Grant proposal supports the Absolute Priority and both Competitive Preference Priorities identified within the program announcement in the Federal Register.

### P031S150088

### Yakima Valley Community College, TX

### Central Washington University, TX

### Cooperative Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Yakima Valley Community College (YVCC), a designated Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) since 2002, and Central Washington University (CWU), an emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution, face low degree attainment rates that are attributable to low retention and transfer rates.  Only 24 percent of YVVC students earn an AA within three years and only 51 percent of CWU students earn a BA within six years. In order to improve services for supporting degree attainment for Hispanic and low- income students in their shared region, YVCC and CWU are partnering to attain three shared goals:  1. Increase retention rates for first-time degree seeking cohorts, closing any identified achievement gaps; 2. Increase enrollment by increasing numbers of students who are retained and reengaged; and 3. Increase completion rates for all students, closing identified achievement gaps. YVCC and CWU will develop comprehensive quantitative and qualitative self-studies related to student success and satisfaction with services and collaborate for interpretation and strategy development.

The partners will assemble cross-institutional teams of personnel and provide these teams with data and professional development related to their areas of service, with the intended outcome of implementing new strategies for improving services and monitoring data on the effectiveness of these new services.  Based on an extensive literature review of practices to increase retention and success, the colleges will develop shared processes to streamline dual admission and dual enrollment; more robust financial aid programs; advising pathways that identify efficient course-taking patterns for AA and BA degree completion; reengagement outreach support for drop-outs; and expanded advising and mentoring services for transfer-intending students from YVCC and transfer-in students at CWU.

### P031S150032

### Phoenix College, Phoenix, AZ 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Phoenix College (PC) is a public, two-year urban institution serving an educationally disadvantaged and ethnically diverse student population in Phoenix, Arizona.  The college’s headcount is over 12,000 students as of fall 2014, approximately half of the student population is ethnic minorities and 43 percent are Hispanic, the fastest growing ethnic group over the past ten years.  The college prepares its students for university transfer, career training and advancement, and lifelong learning in over 200 degree and certificate programs.  The College is particularly known for quality teaching, nationally recognized occupational programs, and accessible, affordable educational offerings.

This Title V HSI grant proposal is to enhance and expand the Learning-Centered College environment for Hispanic students and their families.  Based on the analysis of the strengths and challenges at PC this proposal tries to address these goals: 1) To increase student goal attainment and successful course completion; 2) Hispanic Students requiring developmental education will successfully complete developmental courses and subsequently succeed in college-level courses; and 3) Promote the development of faculty initiated and peer-reviewed Open Educational Resources (OER) resources to support student success across different modalities of learning.

Specific measurable objectives are fully defined within this proposal.  All of which are aligned with the Strategic Plan of Phoenix College and the Maricopa Community College District.  PC is a part of this district and comes under their annual Core metric analysis.  GPRA data and specific program data will be collected and reported to help determine whether or not this project is successful in the impact on Hispanic students and their families.

### P031S150085

### Glendale Community College, Glendale, AZ 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Glendale Community College (GCC), located in Glendale, Arizona, is one of the ten higher education institutions that comprise the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD).  GCC is a two-year public comprehensive community college designated as a Hispanic Service Institution (HSI). GCC faces low or declining enrollment, persistence, transfer, and completion trends for high-need Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) students.  To improve the success of high-need students in STEM fields, GCC is seeking Title V funding to develop the *STEM Connection*--a coordinated and integrated approach of academic and student support services to increase the access, persistence, completion, and transfer rates of high-need STEM students.

GCC will design and expand STEM focused activities that reflect best practices and proven models in STEM program design to support high-need students.  GCC’s *STEM Connection*(Figure 1) will integrate the following programs and services:  a) *Integrated academic and student support coaching*to provide intrusive advising and support for students; b) *STEM Success Center*to offer dedicated, STEM-specific tutoring support, both in-person and on- line; and c) the development of *STEM dual language hybrid courses*to expand student access.

With dedicated resources to enhance the academic and support services available for students in STEM fields, GCC will positively impact the persistence, completion, and transfer rates for high-need STEM students.

### P031S150098

### Gate Way Community College, Maricopa County, AZ 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Staying on TrAC (Transfer, Articulation, & Completion)

GateWay Community College (GWCC) serves a highly diverse population of roughly 10,500 students from communities throughout the Phoenix area and Maricopa County, Arizona.  The majority of GWCC’s population is both underrepresented minorities and first-generation college students. GWCC is requesting $2,623,604 in funds over a five year period to improve student outcomes in higher education, especially among Hispanic and low-income populations.  Through the implementation of the Title V goal, activity objectives, and strategies proposed, GWCC will improve institutional quality standards and efficiency, resulting in increased student completion and transfer, by providing individualized student support and enhancing the student academic experience. Students are primarily drawn to GWCC because of its unique occupational programs that are unavailable elsewhere in the state.  However, GWCC is experiencing a steadily developing transition to become a more comprehensive community college with a stronger focus on preparing students for degree completion, and/or university transfer.

Outcomes emerging from successful conclusion of Title V project goals will include: 1) Decreased time to completion through strategic innovations such as:  accelerated learning environments, just-in-time learning support, contextualized learning strategies, and customized learning communities; 2) Increased student completion and transfer by: creating active learning pedagogy, expanding the Honors Program, supporting sophomore-level courses, and increasing transfer resources; 3) Improving institutional quality standards and efficiency of resources by: expanding the data collection, making data-driven decisions, developing human capital, and maximizing cross-departmental collaboration; and 4) Expanding financial resources through creation of a $200,000 Title V endowment to effectively address emerging needs and opportunities.

### P031S150016

### Chaffey Community College, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Chaffey College is a large two-year, public institution located in the county of San Bernardino and city of Rancho Cucamonga, 40 miles east of Los Angeles, California.  In the 2013-14 academic year, 26,292 unduplicated students enrolled in courses throughout the District.  Chaffey serves a diverse, historically underrepresented student population.  Over 78 percent of the Chaffey student population are students of color, including: 58.4 percent who are Hispanic; 9.8 percent who are African American; 6.9 percent who are Asian/Pacific Islander; and 3.3 percent who are multi-ethnic.

**The proposed Title V HSI project incorporates three primary activities including: 1)**Strengthening Instruction, Transfer and Student Support Services; **2)**Innovate Barrier Course Curricula & Expand Innovative and Customized Instruction Course Development; and **3)**Facilitate Professional Learning Opportunities and Technical Assistance to Support Effective Implementation and Institutional Systemic Change.

**Elements include:**Piloting of a new district-wide Student Retention Software (SRS) that will be used by faculty, staff and students to help provide “real-time” student monitoring and feedback features and allow for the collection and analysis of non-cognitive factors to support student assessment and retention strategies.  Transfer planning and support is provided through on-going awareness and support activities at the secondary school and UC/CSU levels and through the inclusion of an Articulation Officer who will guide the development of formal articulation agreements.  Chaffey will build upon existing Success/GPS Centers to incorporate more robust student, faculty, first generation and familial interactions and services to help develop deeper community engagement and stronger student completion and transition support networks.  All activities, events and workshops will focus on academic-related supports that encourage secondary students to develop the academic skills and the interest to pursue postsecondary education.

In addition, an innovative dual credit year-round Bridge Program will be implemented to assist with college readiness at the secondary level.   The Bridge Program will focus on math, supplemental instruction and student services but will also be supported and infused with activitiesthat help influence the development of non-cognitive skills (e.g., Growth Mindset; MetacognitiveSelf-Regulation; etc.).

Further, district in-kind and Title V resources will be used to reevaluate and strengthen the current mathematics curriculum, instruction and delivery methods and used to expand new online and hybrid instructional components (e.g., badging, “flipped” and active-learning classrooms).  Title V funds will also be leveraged with district resources to offset costs associated with the acquisition of a new grants management system that will be used to help strengthen grant related funds management and funds will be earmarked to initiate a new Title V Endowment. Finally, ongoing Professional Learning Opportunities will be made available to secondary/postsecondary faculty and staff to support proposed strategies and an annual Regional Dual Enrollment Retreat that serves as a critical systems change component will be offered.

### P031S150163 

### The Regents of the University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Title: Opening New Doors to Accelerating Success (ONDAS)

The University of California – Santa Barbara is a public, Hispanic-Serving, four-year degree granting institution that serves over 20,000 students.  The service area includes high percentages of Hispanic populations and UCSB’s student demographics are beginning to reflect this, with a 26 percent Hispanic population, 70 percent of students who receive financial aid, and 39 percent who are first-generation.  This is a departure from the past, when UCSB students were more often from affluent families.  To meet the unique needs of the institution’s increasingly diverse and high need students, UCSB is proposing to develop ONDAS (Opening New Doors to Accelerating Success), a Title V activity that will help to eliminate many challenges identified at UCSB, including high probation rates in specific majors; lack of supportive services for students in targeted courses; lower GPA, first year retention, and completion rates for under-represented students; few training opportunities in alternative delivery methods for faculty; and student learning data that is collected from different systems that is not appropriately analyzed.

These problems were identified through a self-study and a review of several related documents. They will be addressed through new support activities that will enable UCSB to increase services to high-need students.  The project will produce clear outcomes, addressed through three components: Component 1: First-Year Experiences; Component 2: Student Learning Analytics; and Component 3: Faculty Development.

Amount requested: The total request for this project is $2,624,366 over five years. Because this project relies heavily on direct services to students, this total amount represents approximately 78 percent invested in salaries and fringe benefits; five percent for supplies; two percent for contractual; two percent for construction; one percent for travel; and 11 percent for other expenses.

Program Management and Evaluation: UCSB is requesting $523,903 over five years to support the program management dimension of the project. This represents just over 19 percent of the full project request and includes $251,093 for a .20 Project Director (salary and fringe);

$197,810 (salary and fringe) for an internal evaluator; and $75,000 for an external evaluator.

### P031S150045 

### Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

*CLOSING THE COMPLETION GAP FOR HISPANIC AND LOW-INCOME STUDENTS*

*Cabrillo College*(Aptos, California) is a comprehensive, public two-year community college serving Santa Cruz County with a main campus at Aptos and a Center at Watsonville, enrolling 13,354 students Fall 2014.  The Hispanic enrollment (38.4 percent) has increased in the last five years by ten percentage points.  The College serves high-need students from the Pajaro Valley, such as Watsonville (81 percent Hispanic) where families struggle with persistent poverty and low educational levels. For Santa Cruz County, the total number of working age people living below the federal poverty standard increased by six percentage points within five years (Santa Cruz County Community Assessment Project 2013 Report).  Only 10.1 percent of Watsonville’s adults (25 years+) holds a bachelor’s degree or higher compared to 31 percent statewide and 29 percent nationwide.

Cabrillo College is a key player in providing access to quality postsecondary education and is challenged to ensure Hispanic and other low-income students have equitable and accessible learning experiences and the support needed for them to succeed and complete college on time (transfer). Students now have the opportunity to accelerate progress toward attaining a bachelor’s degree through the California State University (CSU) system transfer program articulated with Cabrillo College.  The Associate Degree for Transfer (60 transferrable credits count toward 120 credits for a bachelor’s degree) *guarantees*admission to any CSU four-year institution and articulates with 19 Cabrillo College associates of art and associates of science degree programs.

High-Need Students*:*The Title V Project addresses the Absolute Priority *to increase the number and proportion of high-need students who complete college on time*. Cabrillo College high-need students come from high minority public schools (54.8 percent Hispanic); they are academically unprepared and at risk of failure (48.9 percent); and they live in poverty (43 percent).  The Title V Project design has two foci: provide individualized, technology-powered student support so that high-need students stay on an Associate Degree for Transfer track and design transfer courses as engaged (active/ collaborative/ technology-enabled) and as hybrid to reduce seat time and promote academic success and timely completion.

Competitive Preference Priority 1: *Individualized, Technology-Powered Student Support.*New e-Services and peer student coaching will be developed and piloted at the five different learning support centers at the Aptos campus and Watsonville Center.  A smarter IT infrastructure will support new, innovative e-Services for students (Web Portal with easy, navigable single- point and Student Planning module to individualize support).  The goal is to increase student persistence and timely completion of transfer credits for the Associate Degree for Transfer. Competitive Preference Priority 2: *Engaged Learning Strategies + Hybrid Option for Transfer Curriculum*.  This focus addresses the priority by increasing access to quality hybrid transfer courses, reducing seat time for students – yet designed to engage students in learning to ensure course success.  Formative assessments during the course facilitated by technology and access to a data dashboard by faculty will be integrated into the hybrid course design.

### P031S150138

### West Hills College Lemoore, Coalinga, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

West Hills College Lemoore (Lemoore) proposes a project for Title V funding titled *Increasing Access and Success.*Focused on innovative approaches for improving Hispanic, low-income, and other diverse student outcomes, the project will provide extensive training for faculty in effective instructional development and delivery techniques; faculty will then revise key courses spanning the curriculum supported by Supplemental Instruction (SI) and Peer Mentoring.  The project will also create a comprehensive set of support services administered from the Center for Student Engagement and Completion (CSEC), a new facility in Lemoore’s Student Union.  Services include Outreach, Orientation, Career Services, Advising, and Progress Tracking, options for building non-cognitive and related success skills, and communication media to promote engagement among students, faculty, and staff.  Projected outcomes include increased faculty competencies in instructional design and delivery, greater percentages of students earning grades of C or better in revised courses, and increased re- enrollment leading to higher rates of graduation and transfer.

A fully accredited, Hispanic-Serving, public, comprehensive two-year college primarily serving Kings County in California’s Central Valley, Lemoore was founded less than a decade ago and is still developing the programs and services needed to serve a disadvantaged and diverse population. More than half (**50.9 percent)** of County residents are Hispanic, and of these, **30 percent**are impoverished, **47 percent**are low-income, **47 percent**have less than a high school diploma, and only **4 percent**hold Bachelor’s or higher degrees (Census 2013).  Non-Hispanics share high rates of disadvantage as well: incomes average only two-thirds of the state’s and just **20 percent** hold Bachelor’s or higher degrees (Census 2013).  The Central Valley is rural and largely agricultural, hit hard by the recent recession and continuing California drought, but recovery and diversification efforts are paying off, and employers in fields such as health care and alternative energy report opportunity for educated residents.  While Lemoore’s Hispanic, low-income, and other diverse students share the area’s disadvantage, they recognize opportunity: Hispanic enrollment has grown 15 percentage points in the past seven years.  However, failures in key courses required for most Lemoore credentials are extremely high, requiring retakes to earn credentials, and retakes increase costs and lengthen times to completion.  Analysis has shown the need to revise these courses to reinforce basic skills and improve effectiveness with techniques appropriate for adult, diverse learners. In addition, student success requires support, and new on-campus and online services will benefit all who enroll.

### P031S150073

### California State University, East Bay Foundation Inc.,  Hayward, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Sophomore Transition Enrichment Program (STEP) California State University East Bay, a Hispanic Serving Institution located east of San Francisco, is working to increase retention and degree attainment amongst our rapidly growing low-income and Latino/a student population’s growth of 50 percent (between 2010-2012).  STEP Development team hypothesize that this overarching goal can be met by supporting students with additional networks such as online supplemental resources,  tutoring, mentoring, service learning opportunities and changing CSUEB practices by working with faculty to redesign their courses to meet the needs of English Language Learners.  Specifically, we request $2,624,538.90 over five years to: 1) Increase retention and graduation rate by creating cohort-based classes;  2) Implement new on-line  supplemental materials for developmental math course sequence that supports early and accelerated mastery of the knowledge required for academic success, especially in science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM); 3) Implement a Student Information System to ensure the success and provision of support to STEP students and ultimately other students deemed to be in need of added support and an intrusive counseling/case management approach; and 4) Increase interest and confidence, as well as academic readiness, among diverse students in their capacity to choose a science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics (STEM) college and career pathway as they participate in a summer academy and workshops through-out the year.  The proposed program addresses the two competitive preference priorities of the 2015 Developing Hispanic Serving Institutions competition and includes the creation of a new endowment of $35,000 that will provide needed students’ scholarships.  Competitive Preference:  1) Student Supports and Services; and 2) High Quality Online and Accessible Learning Opportunities to Reduce Time to Degree Completion are addressed in the goals and objectives of STEP.

### P031S150082

### University Auxiliary and Research Services Corporation, San Marcos, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

*PASO – Pathways to Academic Success and Opportunities*

Through *Pathways to Academic Success and Opportunities*(PASO), California State University San Marcos (39 percent Latino student population) will address the achievement gap among its Latino students through innovative student services, culturally relevant curriculum, and meaningful co- curricular offerings aimed at increasing retention and graduation rates.  Situated in Northern San Diego among cities with 40-60 percent Latino population, CSUSM serves students with undeniable educational need.  In the San Marcos Unified School District, there is a 92 percent graduation rate overall, but the graduation rate for Latinos is 48 percent. At CSUSM, 54 percent of “first time first year” Latino students are on probation, compared to 19 percent of the second highest group, White students.  Additionally, 16.8 percent of Latino FTF students that enrolled in Fall 2013 did not return to their second year in Fall 2014.

The university’s mission is to provide comprehensive, innovative and rigorous education for all enrolled students.  To this end, the university has created MOUs with various school districts to have automatic admissions to the university for eligible high school graduates.  The university has invested resources for innovative programs such as a First Year Programs, administers an Early Response System to monitor student performance, and recently created and funded a new Latina Center. Building on these efforts, the Title V grant will fund:

Innovations in Student Services include Bilingual/Bicultural Financial Aid Specialist and Cultural Transition Academic Advisor (trained in pro-active or “invasive” counseling); Bilingual/Bicultural math tutors with tablets to conduct in-person and online tutoring; and, peer mentors for the Academic Advisor, FA Specialist, PASO Center and Latina Center (in person and online chat office hours). 

Culturally Validating Curriculum include the creation of first year General Education courses with focus on Latino Identities; Learning Communities geared for Latinos in each college; Supplemental Writing and Math Courses in *hybrid*format; and, Faculty Professional Development for Course Enhancement (improve courses found to be high need, low success for Latino students). Meaningful and Co-Curricular Offerings include Research Assistants; Second Year Latino Males Mentor Program; Programming addressing contemporary issues shaping Latino students’ educational experiences; and, PASO Parent Institute focusing on college transitions.  Impactful New Technologies include Card swipe technology for services associated with grant; “Instant online chat” platform; online meeting technology; and tablets for Math Tutors that feature camera, screen shots, and pen (writing formulas); and Student computer lab for Latina Center.

This collaborative approach builds upon the university’s successes and current initiatives and generates innovative programming and activities that are based on high impact practices (HIP) for student success. We will conduct a rigorous project evaluation and will institutionalize proven effective project practices beyond the funding period.  Projected outcomes for 2020 are significant improvements in Latino retention and graduation.

### P031S150231

### Reedley College – Clovis Community College Center, Fresno, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Reedley College-Clovis Community College Center (CCCC) requests a grant from the federal Title V – Strengthening Hispanic Serving Institutions program to improve access and success of Hispanic and other students. CCCC, located in Fresno County in California’s agricultural Central Valley, qualifies as a Title V-eligible branch campus under Department of Education regulations.  Currently CCCC is accredited as a part of Reedley College, though we expect to be accredited in July as a stand-alone college by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC).  CCCC proposes to develop a comprehensive support program for Hispanic and other at-risk students by creating pathways to timely completion and by coordinating student support services and library resources and services to help struggling students succeed.  There are three coordinated parts to this proposal: (1) We will strengthen our Early Alert with better follow up and services; (2) we will write the curriculum for and offer short-term, credit-bearing basic skills English, math, information literacy courses, and non-credit workshops in order to accelerate students’ progression to successful completion of degree-applicable courses.  These courses will be developed for face-to-face (f2f), hybrid, and online presentation. In addition; (3) we will pilot two-year block schedules that are guaranteed enrollment for major-specific student cohorts.  Growing and coordinating these support programs would also benefit at-risk students as instructors could mandate specific student support and academic services as needed through the existing Early Alert program referral process.  In order to implement the comprehensive support program, we will need to augment existing support services, write curriculum for the short-term basic skills courses, acquire additional library resources, and appoint a program director to ensure effective coordination and collaboration between service areas:

**Support Service Components**

As the recipient of a prior, successfully institutionalized Title V project, CCCC is aware of both the staffing and time commitments required to successfully serve our local community.  Key personnel and resources will be institutionalized during the course of the project in order to ensure ongoing delivery of programs after Title V funding has ended.

### P031S150010

### Bakersfield College (Kern Community College District Fresno, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**Abstract**

*“Making it Happen – Ready, Set, Go! – A Pathway for Equitable Degree Completion”*Bakersfield College (BC) is the primary gateway to higher education for a growing Hispanic student population that is increasingly high need and underprepared for college. Institution-wide planning and analysis led to the Comprehensive Development Plan that reflects BC’s top priority commitment to underlining student success in all operations and development.  BC has many strengths and a long history of serving basic skills students, but increased enrollment of underprepared students and reliance on ad hoc, disconnected services is no longer adequate. The proposed project will address BC’s most significant problem affecting student outcomes by developing a more holistic, integrated pre-college pathway based on proven strategies that increase Hispanic and other underrepresented student success.

### P031S150078

### East Los Angeles College, Monterey Park, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

*Project Title: Puerta al Exito, Gateway to Success*

Applicant Institution: East Los Angeles College (ELAC) is a large public, two-year Hispanic-serving community college with over three quarters of its 30,000 students being Hispanic. The college is situated in one of the most economically challenged, diverse regions of Southern California and is located about six miles east of downtown Los Angeles in Monterey Park, California.

This individual project is designed to address the Title V Priority of timely college completion and has identified specific problems at the college including: (1) low rates of progress from remedial to college-level courses; (2) low success rates in gateway courses; (3) low persistence during the first year of college; and (4) low completion rates, compounded by excessive time taken to graduate, attain degrees or certificates, or to transfer. College resources are geared toward the minority of students who are full-time, day-time students, whereas the majority of students are part-time, evening, or special-needs students.

Major goals of this project are to increase retention and pass rates in gateway courses and to reduce proportion of remedial enrollments. Specific measurable objectives include: (a) having the number of first-time completers reduced by 30 percent compared to 2013-14 baseline rates; and (2) increasing the average retention and pass rates within Gateway English, Chemistry, and Biology courses by 20 percent over 2013-14 baseline rates.

Strategies and practices implemented in this project are planned for *continuation*after being developed, pilot-tested and institutionalized.  During the five-year grant period ELAC will implement a single, three-component Gateway to Success activity to include:  1. Learning and Innovation Studio; 2. Faculty Training for Student Success; and 3. Student Support for Success.

### P031S150100

### Pasadena City College,  Pasadena, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Pasadena City College (PCC), located in Pasadena, California, serves the greater Los Angeles area which has the largest, fastest growing Hispanic population in America.  The college enrolls over 30,000 students; almost 45 percent are Hispanic.  PCC’s proposed Title V project aims to improve the degree completion of Hispanic students through strategies well-supported by extensive national and institutional research.

The project, Making the Second Year a Supported, Engaging, and Accessible Pathway to Completion, includes three main Activity strategies selected as essential next steps to significantly improve the completion rate for all PCC students and close the equity gap in the completion rate of Hispanic and non-Hispanic students:

### P031S150144

### Glendale Community College, Glendale, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Glendale Community College (GCC) is one of the oldest community colleges in California.  A public HSI enrolling nearly 30,000 students annually on two campuses located in the city of Glendale, GCC serves well-defined communities eleven miles north of Los Angeles and provides much needed higher educational opportunity to an expanded service area.  GCC’s large Hispanic student population is overrepresented in Basic Skills (remedial courses), and the college is well suited to leverage Title V support in its pursuit of equity in higher education.  This project aims to improve student learning and completion outcomes for GCC’s neediest students by developing a comprehensive *Completion Pathway*that holistically supports student success in the critical transitions from matriculation, through Basic Skills, to transferrable General Education (GE) courses.

Rigorous institutional planning and research by GCC led to this multifaceted, single-activity project—titled, *Building a Completion Pathway for Hispanic and Other High Need Students*— marshaling college-wide stakeholders into a common vision for student success in the vital transition from matriculation to transfer-level.  Using the evidence-based AVID *for*Higher Education (AHE) program as a cornerstone, GCC will build a holistic pathway to completion, optimally serving its high-need students and fully addressing both Title V Competitive Preference Priorities.

### P031S150217

### Whittier College, Whittier, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Whittier College is a nationally ranked liberal arts college known for its excellent curricular offerings and success in graduating Hispanic students.  Among the top 126 ranked liberal arts colleges, Whittier is the only one to have the added distinction of being recognized as a Hispanic Serving Institution. Despite its success, Whittier falls behind peer institutions in graduation and retention rates both overall and for Hispanics. In addition, aging infrastructure, labs and facilities for science are negatively affecting the quality of learning and research opportunities available to Whittier students.

Assistance is requested from the Department of Education to implement activities designed to increase the graduation and retention rates of Hispanic and underrepresented students while providing the necessary support mechanisms and environment to enhance STEM learning and research at Whittier.

Key elements of our Implementation Strategy include an innovative adaptation of a proven summer internship program for Hispanic, low-income, and/or at-risk students, focusing on internships in Health and Science, dedicated advising, and a course designed to help equip students to succeed in STEM.  Equipment and supplies needed to provide up-to-date learning and research environments are also requested as the lack of good equipment keeps talented student researchers from reaching their full potential.  The equipment factors into a complete and total renovation of the Whittier science building just underway as of the submission of this proposal.  All combined, the elements will strengthen Whittier’s support for students and increase the college’s capacity for science learning and research.

Measures for success of the proposed strategies include increases in retention, persistence and increased four and six-year graduation rates for Hispanic students in STEM disciplines.

This proposal responds completely to the Absolute Priority and the Competitive Preference Priorities of the Department of Education Title V Program.  Implementation of its work plan will benefit thousands of Hispanic and underrepresented students now and in future years as Whittier College is, at last, able to provide the highest quality education they need to pursue advanced degrees and careers in STEM fields.

### P031S150095

### California State University-Bakersfield, Bakersfield, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB) enrolls over 7,500 undergraduates, 53percent of whom are Hispanic.  CSUB is the only four-year institution of higher education within a 100- mile radius, serving a vast region encompassing Kern, Tulare, Inyo, and Mono counties, and parts of Los Angeles and Kings Counties.  CSUB’s proposed Title V project aims to improve the degree completion and development of essential 21st century workforce skills of Hispanic students through a comprehensive General Education reform initiative well-supported by extensive national and institutional research.

The Goals and Objectives of this transformative project, Giving Students a Compass: Improved Completion Outcomes and Essential 21st Century Skills for Hispanic and Other High Need Students, emerged from an intensive and widely inclusive institutional dialog about how best to improve student learning and completion outcomes for CSUB’s neediest students.

### P031S150204

### Imperial Valley College, Imperial, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

The TALCAS Project at Imperial Valley College is designed to better serve the low-income, under-prepared, 90 percent Hispanic student body.  Teaching and Learning Center for Achievement and Success (TALCAS) will form the basis for all the activities included in this project. This Center will serve as the place where a centralized tutoring system and Supplemental Instruction will occur on the campus, with outlying computer labs where students use computers for both on-line instruction and on-line tutoring. This is where tutors will be trained, where faculty can meet with the tutors embedded in their classes, where exams can be proctored for students participating in on-line (Distance Education) instruction, where faculty can meet to work on implementing cross-discipline Reading Apprenticeships in their classrooms and, finally, where faculty can mentor other faculty and offer professional development activities where faculty provide instruction to other faculty.  In other words, this Center will be the hub for teaching and learning for both students and faculty and will provide a central place where innovative pedagogy is developed and practiced, where faculty, tutors and students work together to promote academic success.  An additional key part of this project will the constant assessment and monitoring of student needs and quickly moving to address those needs.

The TALCAS Project has the following measurable objectives:

**Objective 1.1 Student Retention:**82 percent of students tracked for six years will have completed at least 30 units, by 2020, an increase from 72 percent.

**Objective 1.2   Remedial Students:**The percentage of credit students tracked for six years, who first enrolled in a remedial class and have completed a college-level course in the same discipline, by 2020, will have increased from 39 percent in Math to 44 percent and from 31 percent in English to 36 percent.

**Objective 2.1   Student Persistence:**The percentage of students who enroll for three consecutive terms will increase, by 2020, from 80 percent to 86 percent.

**Objective 2.2   Student Completion:**The percentage of students who complete a degree, certificate or transfer within six years will increase from 43 percent to 50 percent.

**Objective 3.1  Faculty Development:**90 percent of Faculty will have participated in TALCAS Activities by 2020.

### P031S150218

### Fresno Pacific University Fresno, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Fresno Pacific University (FPU) is the largest, private, not-for-profit, Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in Central California.  Our Mission is: Fresno Pacific University develops students for leadership and service through excellence in Christian higher education.  Our institution currently serves 3,458 students, including 2,633 undergraduates, and 825 graduate students.  The University offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in over 27 areas of study.  The students are 69 percent female, and 31 percent male.  Our student body is 53 percent minority, of which 40 percent are Hispanic.  In addition to serving a large minority population, our institution also serves a large low-income population, 80 percent of our students receive financial aid and 56 percent receive Pell.

Fresno Pacific has succeeded in achieving high persistence, good academic standing, and graduation rates in its population which have earned the University national rankings. Our institution recently ranked 10th in graduating students among HSI’s, and ranked 18th in the top 50 colleges for Hispanic students.  Despite the University having the highest four year graduation rates in the region, 41 percent (nearly double other private, and public, HSI’s in the region) the retention and graduation rates of our first generation, first-year students are significantly below (more than 10 percent) the success rates of our non-first generation students.

Fresno Pacific now has the opportunity to increase support for our first generation population, and address the widening academic achievement gap between our first- generation and our non-first generation students.  Our Title V project will close the academic achievement gap in first generation students and achieve the following objectives within five years:

1‐   Objective 1: Increase persistence rates of first generation students to 85 percent (two percent per year) over the current baseline data of 75 percent.

2‐   Objective 2: Increase the four year completion rates of first generation students to 50 percent (two percent per year) over the 2009 cohort baseline data of 39 percent.

3‐   Objective 3: Increase the General Education course offerings that contain at least a 10-15 percent cultural component to 40 percent (4.2 percent per year) over the current baseline of 17 percent.

The objectives will be accomplished through activities based on the “Making Excellence Inclusive” Framework, developed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the “Full-time is fifteen” initiative recommended by Complete College America. These activities will:

· increase student support services

· increase the rates of students taking 15 units

· lead to a Learning Cultural Center; and

· lead to the development of a culturally embedded curriculum

The long-term impact of this grant is improved academic success, and improved cultural competency in students, staff, and faculty.

### P031S150003

### Gavilan College Gilroy, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

**“Strengthening Outcomes for Hispanic and High-Need Students”**

Gavilan College is a mid-size community college in the semi-rural area, in Gilroy, south of San Jose, California.  We are a proud Hispanic-Serving Institution with 58 percent Hispanics students. We will address the problems outlined in the CDP with one Activity in three major parts.

**Five-Year Project Objectives:**

**1. Increase Student Outcomes**

a) Increase *success*rates in gateway course of Acceleration (Expreso) cohorts to 69 percent.

b) Increase *success*rates in gateway courses of Directed Learning Activities [DLA] Cohorts: 69 percent

c) Increase overall transfer rates from 13 to 20 percent.

d) Increase Hispanic transfer to be in parity with Hispanic percent of student population: 58 percent.

e) Increase  BS/BC completion rate to 80 percent.

f) Increase # of Education majors from 51 to 100.

g) Increase completers of Transfer Academy (based on ACE) to100 percent.

**2. Improve Access/Quality of Online Programs**

a) Increase *success rates*in gateway courses of to match traditional F2F courses to 69 percent.

b) Increase positive ratings of helpdesk to 90 percent.

**3. Improve Civic Engagement**

a) Increase civic engagement of students to 450 and faculty to 30.

b) Increase Civic Leadership Certificates to 30 per year.

**4. Increase faculty teaching/learning skills.**

a) Increase faculty in Acceleration pilots to 30.

b) Increase faculty in DLA pilots to 50.

c) Increase faculty in Online/hybrid course development to 30.

**Three-part Activity:**

**Part 1: Strengthen Learning --**Develop, pilot, assess Accelerated Basic Skills courses to expedite transfer and Directed Learning Activities to provide rigorous learning practice, and develop Transfer Academy based on ACE.

**Part 2: Improve Access to Online Programs --**Develop/pilot/assess 30 new online or hybrid courses; install, staff a helpdesk.

**Part 3: Increase Civic Engagement and Community Resources --**Develop 30 civic engagement projects for 450 Student Interns with 30 Faculty mentors; develop community Resource Archives.

**Total Request for Five Years: $ 2,625,000.**

About 38 percent is in development personnel; about 25 percent is in “Other” (Trainers, training and development Stipends, 50 percent Counselor, skills tutors, Mentors, Coaches and Technicians) and about nine percent is in Supplies: loaner laptops, learning materials, printers and toner cartridges.

### P031S150011

### Las Positas College, Livermore, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Recognizing the need to address the challenges faced by Hispanic youth and adults in its service area, Las Positas Community College (LPC), a public two-year college serving much of the Tri- Valley region of the San Francisco Bay Area in California, is working to develop and realize targeted, sustainable institution-wide improvements that are the foundation for ongoing efforts to extend its academic and student support services to assist Hispanic and other high-need students to be successful.  Through this effort, LPC will place an emphasis on students who are under prepared and/or failing to complete basic math courses and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) prerequisites for entering and succeeding in STEM program, certificates, degrees, and transfers to four-year STEM programs and related 21st Century careers.  The overarching goal is to strengthen the institution’s ability to improve the success rates of Hispanic and other disproportionately impacted students and to institutionalize and scale the innovations to strengthen the institution to continue to serve Hispanic and other high-need students.

Specifically, the proposed “Gateway to STEM Success” project will:

(1) Provide faculty development in pedagogy and math course and sequence redesign that follows the evidence-based “Emporium Model” to ensure targeted students are succeeding in basic math courses;

(2) Blend academic and student support (e.g., targeted tutoring, mentoring, counseling and advising, etc.) to ensure that Hispanic and other high-need LPC students get the specific, individually-tailored support they need to be successful in remedial basic math and STEM prerequisite courses; and,

(3) Integrate and scale Title V enhancements to reduce disproportionate impacts across the institution, including replication in STEM programs and other basic learning skills where gateway course reform is needed to increase effectiveness and efficiency.

The first year will focus on faculty professional development and course redesign followed by implementation, testing, and refinement of the program in the second and third years and ongoing. Years four and five will include efforts to sustain and then scale the program to additional departments (e.g., STEM faculty and courses) working to serve high-need students regardless of race or socio-economic condition. Robust data collection and formative evaluation will be used to guide project implementation and refinement.  LPC will be well-positioned to measure the extent to which this effort increases the number of Hispanic and high-need entering and matriculating in STEM programs, implement, and validate a strong theory for advancing institutional priorities that will benefit LPC.  It will also provide a model for study by California and other community colleges and professional associations who are working to increase the efficacy and reduce the cost of providing a quality and timely educational experience, particularly in the STEM fields of study leading to professional and technical jobs and careers.

### P031S150009

### John F. Kennedy University, Pleasant Hill, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

John F. Kennedy University, located in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, is a private, Hispanic-serving, degree-granting institution that serves approximately 1,100 students.  The region served by JFKU has a Hispanic population of approximately 24 percent, far above the U.S. average of 17.1 percent.  JFKU is an affiliate of the National University System and offers undergraduate degrees in accounting, business administration, convergence journalism, criminal justice leadership, legal studies, liberal studies and psychology.  JFKU is growing its undergraduate numbers but does not have specific supports in place to assist these students.  This Title V project, the Undergraduate Success Initiative, will focus on developing programs to directly serve this population.

The Undergraduate Success Initiative is designed to help eliminate many challenges identified at JFKU, including the lack of a centralized center to serve undergraduate students; few outreach opportunities; lower performance of Hispanic students compared to the student body as a whole; limited support for online students; and few professional development opportunities. These issues – identified through a self-study and through a review of several related documents– will be addressed through the development of activities that will enable JFKU to increase the services provided to students. This will be through five project components:

Component 1:  Development of an Undergraduate Success Center;

Component 2:  Outreach;

Component 3:  Improve Professional Development Opportunities;

Component 4:  Data Analysis; and

Component 5:  Endowment.

Amount requested: The total request for this project is $2,617,251 over five years. This represents approximately 53 percent invested in salaries and fringe benefits; 10 percent for equipment and supplies; 10 percent for contractual; four percent for construction; four percent for travel; and 19 percent for other expenses.

Program Management and Evaluation: JFKU is requesting $705,462.50 over five years to support the program management dimension of the project. This represents just over 25 percent of the full project request and includes $630,462.50 for a full-time Project Director (salary and fringe). The budget also contains a $75,000 line item request for an outside evaluation component.

### P031S150021

### The Regents of the University of California - Santa Cruz, Pleasant Hill, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Title: Opening New Doors to Accelerating Success (ONDAS)

The University of California – Santa Barbara is a public, Hispanic-Serving, four-year degree granting institution that serves over 20,000 students.  The service area includes high percentages of Hispanic populations and UCSB’s student demographics are beginning to reflect this, with a 26 percent Hispanic population, 70 percent  of students who receive financial aid, and 39 percent who are first-generation.  This is a departure from the past, when UCSB students were more often from affluent families.  To meet the unique needs of the institution’s increasingly diverse and high need students, UCSB is proposing to develop ONDAS (Opening New Doors to Accelerating Success), a Title V activity that will help to eliminate many challenges identified at UCSB, including high probation rates in specific majors; lack of supportive services for students in targeted courses; lower GPA, first-year retention, and completion rates for under-represented students; few training opportunities in alternative delivery methods for faculty; and student learning data that is collected from different systems that is not appropriately analyzed.

These problems were identified through a self-study and a review of several related documents. They will be addressed through new support activities that will enable UCSB to increase services to high-need students.  The project will produce clear outcomes, addressed through three components:

Component 1:  First-Year Experiences; 

Component 2:  Student Learning Analytics; and 

Component 3:  Faculty Development.

Amount requested: The total request for this project is $2,624,366 over five years. Because this project relies heavily on direct services to students, this total amount represents approximately 78 percent invested in salaries and fringe benefits; five percent for supplies; two percent for contractual; two percent for construction; one percent for travel; and 11 percent for other expenses.

Program Management and Evaluation: UCSB is requesting $523,903 over five years to support the program management dimension of the project. This represents just over 19 percent of the full project request and includes $251,093 for a .20 Project Director (salary and fringe); $197,810 (salary and fringe) for an internal evaluator; and $75,000 for an external evaluator.

### P031S150200

### Sacramento City College, Sacramento, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Sacramento City College (SCC) has a long standing tradition of helping students who come from diverse backgrounds – of varying experiences, resources, age and ability – to reach their academic and career goals. SCC is an urban campus with a highly diverse population of approximately 24,000 students, of which, nearly 30 percent are Hispanic/Latino. The rate at which Hispanic/Latino students complete, graduate, and transfer from SCC is lower than their peers.  SCC will measurably strengthen the academic success of first-year Hispanic students through integrally-related, mutually sustaining activities designed to improve successful course completion, retention and completion outcomes.  The HSI grant will enable SCC to fully realize its investment in a comprehensive first-year program, providing the necessary seed funding to achieve its commitment to improving educational outcomes for entering Hispanic/ Latino students.

This proposal’s central goals are to improve student course success rates, retention rates, and completion rates for first-year Hispanic students at SCC.  To achieve these goals, the project incorporates development of a comprehensive first-year experience/ learning community program, culturally responsive curriculum development, expansion of learning opportunities beyond the classroom, teaching materials and workshop development, mentorship and internship development, study abroad opportunities, and assessment placement as essential components of its program development plan.  The project builds on existing SCC programs and staff resources as well as external partnerships for cost-effective and sustainable outcomes.  It emphasizes cohort building, deeper connections between students and the college community, skill building, and goal setting. As such, it reflects a programmatic strategy that will markedly improve SCC’s programs while serving the interests and academic success of its students.

With this initiative, SCC will realize:

1.   A first-year learning community experience with the theme of Students in A Global Economy (SAGE Program) for Hispanic/ Latino students to support their transition to college;

2.   A Summer Bridge Program to provide a short basic skills refresher opportunity to prepare students for assessment placement in English and Math to support them in course placement beyond remediation level and thereby shorten their time to completion;

3.   Global Studies curriculum development and integration, expanding curriculum internationalization to foster development of a broader global perspective in all academic areas;

4.   Career development and integration to connect students with mentors in their chosen field of study and provide internship opportunities to link educational goals and curriculum to employment opportunities and outcomes;

5.   Develop an endowment to maintain financial support and priority for the SAGE Program beyond the HSI funding period.

**P031S150197**

**University Enterprises, Inc. on behalf of California State University, Sacramento, CA**

**Individual Development Grant**

**ABSTRACT**

Sacramento State’s Project INSPIRE: Institutional Networks for (Student) Success, (Peer) Programs and Instructional Redesign Efforts will increase the number and proportion of Hispanic and high-need students who are successful in college and attain timely degree completion. The two objectives of this project are to increase the six-year graduation rate by 12 percent and to close the achievement gap between underrepresented minority students and non-underrepresented minority students 50 percent by 2020.

Sacramento State is a regional comprehensive university enrolling a diverse student body of more than 29,000 students. Hispanic, low-income, and underrepresented students are major constituents of our student population. Twenty-seven percent of full-time equivalent undergraduate students are Hispanic, while 31 percent of the total undergraduate student body is made up of underrepresented minorities.  Fifty-one percent are Pell Grant eligible, and 34 percent are first generation college students. INSPIRE will build institutional capacity to better serve our Hispanic and high-need student populations through the implementation of two strategies:

1.  Center for Learning Analytics and Student Success Research: This Center will create a repository of accessible and actionable data that will enable faculty to analyze student outcomes and make improvements at the course-level to increase pass rates and reduce the backlog for bottleneck courses that now impede students’ progress to degree. The Center will also create tools and comprehensive data sets to enable program directors and administrators to make evidence-based, data-informed management decisions.

2.  Network for Peer-Assisted Student Success: The Network will develop a cohesive, efficient, and coordinated service delivery system of the University’s academic and student peer support programs, helping to bring successful peer support programs to scale and increase the number of students who benefit from these high impact practices. The network will support programs that not only implement best practice and demonstrate individual success, but also create sustainable funding sources for peer programs that establish intentional pathways of collaboration and can demonstrate synergistic results with other peer and support programs.

These two strategies will strengthen the University’s ability to create long-term, sustainable change in campus culture and practice that will improve retention and graduation rate outcomes for Hispanic and high-need students.

### P031S150052

### Grossmont College, El Cajon, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Grossmont College (GC), founded in 1960, is a comprehensive, two-year, public community college located east of San Diego in El Cajon, California.  In 2013-2014, GC enrolled 24,678 students, 31 percent of whom are Hispanic.  *Vía Rapida*is a student retention, success and completion strategy designed to achieve the following five-year plan goals:  (1) Increase the number and percentage of Hispanic and low income (HLI) students who complete an associate degree or certificate; (2) Increase the percentage of HLI students who complete English and math course requirements for the associate degree by the end of their first year of college; (3) Increase the academic retention, persistence and success of HLI students by helping them identify and clarify their career/educational goals, develop an educational plan, and complete college credit toward their goal; and (4) Improve student retention, persistence, and success by increasing professional development for all faculty and staff to enhance the quality of instruction and student services. *Vía Rapida*has five interwoven components:

*Component 1: Hispanic student, family and community outreach*.  This includes development of communications strategies and materials to reach Hispanic students, their families and community members; community-based outreach staff (*promotores)*; and conducting outreach sessions at local schools, churches and community centers.

*Component 2:  Strengthening placement and assessment preparation*.  This includes development of placement policies that use multiple measures to place students into appropriate courses; development of a range of assessment preparation interventions; and development of communications strategies to reach new HLI students.

*Component 3:  Accelerated options in developmental English and math*. This includes development of accelerated developmental English and math courses to prepare students for college-level courses by the end of their first year at GC, and providing structured learning support for students in accelerated developmental courses by embedding tutoring into courses.

*Component 4: Connections to the college community*.  The GC First Year Experience incorporates more extensive orientation, peer mentoring, participation in a learning community structured around a First Year seminar (FYS), tutoring (including in ESL), and contextualized learning through development of online career exploration modules that can be integrated into a wide range of courses.  After students' first year the retention program will focus on ongoing mentoring, tutoring, and student engagement.

*Component 5: Professional development*.  This component includes professional development for faculty in culturally relevant teaching and learning strategies designed to help motivate Hispanic students, and in teaching online and hybrid courses.  This component also includes professional development for bilingual classified staff to train them to provide encouragement and referrals to Hispanic students.

### P031S150055

### Mt. San Jacinto Community College District, San Jacinto, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Mt. San Jacinto College is a public, Hispanic-serving, two-year degree-granting community college that serves 20,341 students in Riverside County, California.  It has four campuses located in San Jacinto, Menifee, Temecula, and Banning.  Between 2005 and 2015, MSJC’s Hispanic student population has nearly doubled from 4,582 to 8,527, and currently represents 44 percent of the entire student body.  Fall 2014 represents the highest enrollment of Hispanic students in the history of MSJC.

Activity One: First Year Educational Pathway and Activity Two: Distance Education andSuccess – $2,358,865 over five years:  To meet the needs of Hispanic and underprepared students, MSJC proposes to:  (1) institutionalize an early student support and pre-assessment preparation strategy; (2) develop and implement a First-Year Academic Cohort Program; (3) develop a strategic retention plan to increase academic success of basic skills students; and (4) institutionalize a quality distance education student success program focused on:  (a) online course development and delivery; (b) professional development and technological support; and (c) student support systems and services

Sample of key measures – By September 2020: (1) The number of students: a) graduating and attaining degrees will increase by 30 percent; b) transferring to four-year universities will increase by 30 percent; (2) the number of Hispanic and underprepared students who are successful in online distance education courses will increase by 10 percent; (3) the number of Hispanic and underprepared students who withdraw in distance education/hybrid courses will decrease by 10 percent; (4) the number of first-time students persisting to the next academic year will increase by 15 percent; (5) underprepared (Basic Skills) students who are successful will increase by 10 percent; (6) the rate of students assessing into three or more levels “below college level” Math will decrease by five percent; and (7) the number of students completing informed educational goals (graduation, transfer, certificate, etc.) of Hispanic and underprepared students assisted through the First Year Educational Pathway will be at least 20 percent higher than first-year Hispanic and underprepared students not so assisted.

Project Management and Evaluation – $266,135 over five years:  The College is requesting no Title V funding for the Project Director position (25 percent time).  About 72 percent (including fringe) of this budget goes to the Title V administrative assistant.  Travel to professional and technical conferences covers about 10 percent.  An external evaluation consultant will make one site visit per year.

Approximately 76 percent of the five-year budget supports personnel including fringe benefits:  First Year Educational Pathway Coordinator, Distance Education Activity Coordinator, Instructional Designer, First Year and Distance Education counselors, Supplemental Instruction Specialist, supplemental instruction student leaders, faculty stipends, and an administrative assistant. Construction costs (less than 1percent – $25,000) are associated with renovation of a Center for Teaching and Learning.

### P031S150055

### Mt. San Jacinto Community College District, San Jacinto, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Modesto Junior College (MJC), one of the oldest community colleges in the state, is a long-standing Hispanic Serving Institution in Modesto, in the Central Valley of California, a region with severe economic depression.  The college serves more than 17,500 students between two campuses (East and West Campuses).  Forty-four percent of MJC’s students are Hispanic. More than half the students at the college qualify for federal financial aid, and most are first generation students. MJC is one of two colleges in the Yosemite Community College District (YCCD). It offers eighty associate degrees and fifty-six certificate programs.

MJC requests $2,622,764 over five years to fund a single Title V activity labeled *Removing Barriers for High Need Students*.  This project is designed to address the Absolute Priority of increasing the number and proportion of high-need students who are academically prepared for, enroll in, or complete college on-time.  It is comprised of three components:

1) Removing academic barriers to shorten time to graduation and transfer through comprehensive review and revision of enrollment, placement, pre-requisite, sequencing, and competency-based credit policies and procedures; Success Coaches who connect students to effective interventions; and the delivery of supplemental learning support.

2) Removing procedural barriers by coordinating support services and staff training to simplify transactional tasks for students and provide superior customer service.

3) Removing resource and physical barriers by establishing one stop Student Support Centers with online, telephone, and face to face student support.

The *Removing Barriers*project addresses the top priority of the college:  improving the way we serve high need students.  Objectives and activities have been carefully planned to achieve four goals: 1) Improve retention and success rates for disadvantaged students; 2) Shorten time to graduation or transfer; 3) Coordinate support services and staff training to simplify transactional tasks for students and provide excellent customer service; and 4) Provide Student Service Centers on two campuses with online, telephone, and face to face support.

Key Outcomes include: 1) increased fall to fall persistence of eight percent for first-time students; 2) increased student transition from remedial math and English of 10 percent; 3) a 50 percent graduation or transfer rate of first-time in college students within four years, increased from 42 percent; 4) increased student satisfaction with college support services from 55 percent to 65 percent; and 5) a college structure that enables 90 percent of transactions related to students to be processed at Student Service Centers or online.

### P031S150167

### Riverside Community College District/Norco College, Norco, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Norco College (NC) is a public, open-access, two-year community college approximately 50 miles east of Los Angeles in the rapidly growing “Inland Empire” region of southern California.  The college serves a population of approximately 12,000 students of which 52 percent are Hispanic.  A large number of our students meet the U.S. Department of Education’s definition of “at-risk,” meaning they enroll at NC facing a host of barriers to meeting their educational goals.  Thirty-two percent of NC’s students come from low socio-economic backgrounds.  The region has a historically low college attainment rate as well with only 6.1 percent of the overall and 4.5 percent the Hispanic population successfully completing a bachelor’s or higher degree.

As the local community college, Norco College is poised to address these inequities by providing low-cost, high-quality, lower division undergraduate education and accelerated pathways for students to graduate and transfer to four-year programs of study.

Nearly 60 percent of the college’s incoming Hispanic and low-income students identify “transfer to university” as their educational goal.  However, nearly 90 percent of them arrive at NC requiring remediation in mathematics and/or English.  Without the necessary skills for academic success the goal of transfer remains elusive; *only nine percent of Hispanic and low-income students complete the transfer process within six years*. Uninformed goal-setting, discouragingly long remediation pathways, lack of critical academic support, and insufficient resources available for traditional and non-traditional college students all contribute to the disheartening levels of success.

The project “*Accelerated Pathways to Graduation and Transfer”*proposes one activity: developing curriculum design models, support structures, and critical academic services that improve persistence rates and accelerate students’ graduation and/or transfer rates.  This activity focuses on four integrated components critical to improving success of non-traditional Hispanic and low-income students as they move through NC’s educational pipeline: (1) develop curriculum models focused on alternative placement and acceleration in English and math for non-traditional students; (2) Increasing access to critical support services to increase persistence; (3) Increasing transfer/completion rates by enhancing Learning Resource Center Staffing & Resources; and (4) Increasing persistence rate by providing professional development for faculty, staff, and administrators on helping students develop non-cognitive skills associated with increased persistence and success.

### P031S150210

### Los Angeles Mission College, Sylmar, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Los Angeles Mission College (Mission College) is a comprehensive, public two-year accredited institution founded in 1975 as the ninth and newest college in the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD), and the 100th community college in California.  Enrollment continues to increase with 11,150 students attending Mission as of fall 2014. Hispanics comprise 77 percent of students enrolled and Mission has one of the highest percentages of Hispanic students in the State of California and throughout the United States. Twenty-six percent of our students report Spanish as their primary language.

Hispanic students’ educational aspirations remain high though realizing academic success has been difficult.  Our proposed project, “Pathway to Success: Post-Secondary Persistence and Success” is being undertaken to accelerate Hispanic and low-income student learning and achievement. The components of this proposed project are to:

(1)  Establish a First-Year Experience Pathways Program which offers a comprehensive First-Year Experience curriculum including a Summer Bridge program; advanced student resources; an early alert academic reporting system for students; and improved access to student and academic support services.

(2)  Establish Career Programs and Services to increase majors/careers in collaboration with our Transfer program to help students identify and choose appropriate career paths and obtain those certificates or degrees and work experience they need to ensure future success in that field.

(3)  Strengthen institutional support for college faculty and staff through the Faculty and Staff-Eagles Nest which will promote further training and development; Reading Apprenticeship Program; and enhanced technology usage to increase student engagement and success.

Through “Pathway to Success: Post-Secondary Persistence and Success” Hispanic, high need, first-generation and low-income students will have greater awareness and usage of student support, academic and career services to transform their educational aspirations into tangible academic and career goals worth pursuing. Increased student education plans, persistence rates, certificate and degree obtainment, transfer eligibility and other student performance indicators will evidence this. Anticipated outcomes of this proposed five-year project include a 20 percent increase in the number of Hispanic and low-income students receiving Associate’s degrees; a 20 percent increase in the number of Hispanic and low-income students transferring to baccalaureate degree-granting institutions within a three-year period of time; and a 10 percent decrease in the rate of Hispanic and low-income students needing remedial classes to advance to college-level Math and English courses. Mission College looks forward to continuously supporting Hispanic and low-income students excel in their academic studies and successfully transition to promising careers.

### P031S150203

### Rio Hondo College, Whittier, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Rio Hondo College (RHC) is a California state-funded community (two-year) college located in Los Angeles County, California.  RHC serves a region in which many of our students experience low academic achievement impacted by high poverty levels, language barriers, and systemic disconnects.  RHC enrolls over 17,000 students, including a Hispanic population of 79 percent.

RHC’s Title V project is designed to directly address the increased need for academic preparation and support services for low-income and Hispanic students to foster their success in college.  This Title V project, *Avance*, will improve student success, persistence, and completion on a substantial scale at Rio Hondo College: serving 200 students in Year one, 300 in Year two, 400 in Year three, 500 in Year four, and 600 in Year five.

The *“Avance”*Project has a single activity that will provide the additional support programs or services to assist students in being successful in college from entry through graduation or transfer. These programs/services include the establishment of a Summer Math Academy, First-Year Seminar Program, and Student Success Center that are all supported by a focused Faculty Development Program.

Most importantly, the activity will enhance the institution’s ability to create outcomes‐based curricular and programmatic changes based on informed analysis of institutional data that will

positively impact student success, persistence, and completion.  The results of these efforts are reflected in our four major objectives:

***Objective # 1****:*Program participants will persist (enroll consecutively in their first three semesters) at a rate of 75 percent, compared to the current rate of 70 percent.

***Objective # 2****:*Program participants will complete their basic-skills mathematics sequence within two academic years at a rate of 40 percent, compared to the current rate of 10 percent.

***Objective # 3****:*Program participants will achieve completion (degree, Chancellor-approved certificate, or transfer-related outcomes) at a rate of 20 percent in three years (compared to the current rate of 15 percent) and a rate of 60 percent in five years (compared to the current rate of 39 percent in six years).

***Objective #4****:*The College will continuously increase its institutional and faculty capacity to educate high-risk student populations.

Amount requested:  The total request for this project is $2,624,980 over five years.  Program Management and Evaluation:  RHC is requesting $1,434,728 over five years to support the management and evaluation of the project.  This includes salaries at 1.0 FTE each for the Project Director and Instructional Assistant; three component coordinators (one at .5 FTE, one at .15 FTE, and two at hourly); a Research Specialist (.5 FTE); and $567,910 in fringe benefits.  It also includes $13,000 per year ($65,000 total) for an external evaluator.

### P031S150024

### Napa Valley Community College, Napa, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Napa Valley College (NVC) is a rural, comprehensive, public two-year college in northern California.  The college is the only college in the county of approximately 140,326 residents.  NVC offers associate degrees and certificate programs in the humanities and fine arts, natural science and mathematics, social and behavior sciences, general studies, vocational and training programs.

The Napa Valley College Title V grant proposes to improve Hispanic and low-income student success in retention and graduation with a focus on measurable results.  The project addresses three broad aspects of student success: instruction, student support, and the use of data to improve student academic outcomes in one comprehensive and integrated activity.

Many students at NVC have not achieved academic success at the level and pace needed to reach their educational goals.  The college will develop and implement pro-active coaching, intrusive academic support services, new Math/Statistic Pathway and dual language curricular approaches in Anatomy and Physiology instruction.

This proposal represents a comprehensive innovative initiative to move to a coaching and learning paradigm.  It will enable NVC to better retain these students by improving the quality of their educational experience and strengthening their links to advising and academic support mechanisms, including relationships with peers and faculty.  We expect to significantly increase the success outcomes of Hispanic and low-income students in terms of improved academic performance and increased retention, graduation and transfer rates.

### P031S150168

### California State University, Camarillo, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

California State University Channel Islands (CI) is the newest of the California State University system campuses (established 2002) and the only public four-year university in Ventura County (VC), which has a 41percent Hispanic population.  CI proposes to implement Project OLAS (Optimizing Learning, Achievement, and Success) to invest in curricular, co-curricular, and professional development programs infusing High-Impact Practices in the first two years of college, and to develop a university culture in high-minority high school communities.  When Hispanic and other high-need students enter CI as first-time freshmen they are often academically underprepared, which increases their time to graduation and increases their risk of dropping out of the university. Institutional data and research show a majority of first-time freshmen and second-year students are at risk of educational failure due to remediation needs, delayed completion of the “golden four,” delayed major declaration, or the need for further development of Math and English language skills. With Project OLAS, CI will champion:  (1) high-impact teaching and learning practices that optimize learning and achievement in the first-and second-year curriculum to ensure academic success; and (2) university culture pathways that help VC high school students and their parents navigate the path to a four-year degree and support student transition to CI through peer mentoring and leveraging campus-wide student success partnerships that connect at-risk students to the university culture. These interventions are aimed at increasing the number and proportion of Hispanic/other high-need students who are academically prepared for, enroll in, and complete university on time.

### P031S150137

### Riverside Community College District/ Moreno Valley College, Moreno Valley, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Moreno Valley College (MVC) is a two-year, public, open admissions, federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution of the Riverside Community College District.  MVC is California’s 111th community college. Students seek a variety of educational outcomes, ranging from personal development, career advancement, degree/certificate completion, or transfer to four-year universities.  Student demographics reflect the diverse communities from which the College draws most of its students, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.  Of the students enrolled in 2014, 60 percent were Hispanic, 13 percent African American, 14 percent Other, and 27 percent Caucasian, with 55.4 percent being female and 44.1 percent being male. 70.9 percent of MVC’s students were receiving financial aid.

Currently, the state of California is in desperate need to hire 7,000 corrections and peace officers by 2016; Riverside County itself needs 1,200 recruits to fill vacancies that have resulted from retirements and attrition.  The high attrition rate (28 percent in Riverside County) is connected to lack of adequate training for these officers.  They are not as prepared for the multidimensional and challenging situations faced in correctional facilities.  MVC, in partnership with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office (RSO), has decided to answer the call for better training and preparation for our corrections officers by offering scenario-based training.  Currently, scenario-based training is all but non-existent throughout not only our community and state, but across the entire country, yet the literature strongly validates its value in law enforcement training programs.  This project has the ability to improve training for correctional officers throughout the entire United States.

Unique to our college and crucial to our community responsive programming is the emerging educational center, Ben Clark Training Center (BCTC), which houses MVC’s Public Safety Education and Training programs. BCTC’s fall 2014 Law Enforcement saw enrollment of 441 students in the corrections and basic academies.  The mission of law academies, whether corrections and basic, is difficult and complex.  To meet the varied goals of corrections and law enforcement more effectively, efficiently, and safely, MVC, in partnership with the RSO seeks federal Title V resources to apply results of initial regional and statewide research and evaluation to inform more-effective interventions and better focus on efforts to improve outcomes.

Delivering training effectively to both recruits in the academies and deputies in corrections is a central component of efforts to increase the quality of training within the academies, improve professionalism and preparedness, and retention once recruits are employed, many of whom will be Hispanic students from our region.  Most training is in traditional classroom format with limited simulation and scenario training.  While scenario training is becoming more available to academies and training units, they are generally available online, through video modules, and computer-based modules, delivering corrections training virtually.  Experiential and interactive prison scenario training will provide recruits and deputies the opportunity to work through potential real-life situations and scenarios to shape their judgment and decision-making while developing specific skills needed to work within prison facilities.

### P031S150044

### La Sierra University, Riverside, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

**“Closing The Gap: A Holistic Approach To A Degree Completion Pathway for Hispanics”**La Sierra University (LSU) is a small private, comprehensive, co-educational, undergraduate- focused liberal arts university.  LSU has undergone major change since beginning as an academy over ninety years ago in a rural area east of Los Angeles.  Today LSU is one of the most diverse institutions in America and a proud Hispanic-Serving Institution (**42 percent Hispanic enrollment)**.  Our deeply held tradition of offering a supportive environment for student learning and achievement has led to the development of this project that aims to eliminate success and transfer barriers for Hispanics and other URM’s. **This project addresses all Title V 2015 Priorities.**

**Absolute Priority:**The majority of LSU students today are high need students.  Hispanic high need students are the least likely to succeed at LSU, and the project directly addresses institutional impediments to their completion of meaningful degrees.

### P031S150199

### Vanguard University, Costa Mesa, CA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Vanguard University (Vanguard) is a private liberal arts university located in Costa Mesa, California, serving a diverse student population.  Over the last three years, Vanguard has seen a dramatic change in the demographics of its student body.  During that time the Vanguard student population has gone from predominantly white to a majority minority.  This rapid change in ethnicity has not only transformed the composition of the student population, but has reshaped the culture of the institution.  Overall, 34 percent of Vanguard students identify as Hispanic, qualifying the institution as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI).  While there are only a few Evangelical Universities nationwide with Title V status, Vanguard is the only institution of this type in Southern California.

The goal of this Title V proposal is to *strengthen and enhance the pipeline of Hispanic and low-income students from early engagement to engaged alumni.*This goal will be accomplished through the comprehensive expansion of student support services, which includes the unification of isolated but proven-effective practices, to form Vanguard’s Integrated Pathways for Success (VIPs).  This goal will also be accomplished by creating an Institute for Faculty Development (IFD) to develop capacity in faculty concerning effective, research-based pedagogical practices for culturally diverse populations.

Activity One:  Increase retention and degree completion for Hispanic and low-income students through the Vanguard Integrated Pathways for Success (VIPs) program by incorporating proven and faculty-driven methodologies*.*VIPs will transform the current college culture into one that promotes, expedites, and values graduation for all students.

Activity Two:  Strengthen capacity for faculty development in culturally sensitive pedagogy and the effective use of educational technology through the establishment of the Institute for Faculty Development (IFD).  IFD will provide faculty with robust training and a comprehensive resource repository for working with diverse populations by providing resources and opportunities concerning culturally responsive strategies and exploring approaches to increase student engagement through technology.  Vanguard believes that by providing professional development resources for the faculty all students will be greatly benefitted.

Five year outcomes include:  1) increase graduation rate by 20 percent in five years; 2) Increase fall-to-fall Freshman retention rates by 20 percent; 3) Increase the utilization of the Student Success and Tutorial Center by 7 percent by increasing access to tutors for all students; 4) Increase fall-to- graduation Senior retention rates by 20 percent; 5) Increase faculty diversity by 1 percent each year beginning in 2016, and 6) Increase the use of effective practices by faculty for diverse learners through the use of effective classroom strategies and technology.

### P031S150033

### Adams State University, CO

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

With over 32 percent of its undergraduate population of Hispanic ethnicity, 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 other high need students with the educational opportunities and services they need to attain a degree and succeed in their chosen careers.

The central goal of this Title V project is to increase students’ success at ASU by streamlining their progress through math remediation and increasing access to resources and high-impact learning experiences that deepen their collegiate experience and better prepare them for careers. Focused study of access and achievement gaps for students in math, fragmentation in advising and career services, and gaps in institutional capacity to promote student engagement informed the design of this project.

The Title V project activity builds on the commitment of the institution to embrace change through the innovative and intellectual energy of its dedicated faculty and staff.  To increase enrollment, persistence, and timely degree attainment by high-need students (**Absolute Priority**), ASU’s *Conexiones*project focuses on three strategic project goals that create new connections for students academically, personally, and professionally to support timely progress through college: 

1) **Reduce Remediation Rates and Improve Student Success in Math**: Improve student success rates in developmental and gateway math courses to support pathways to graduation and STEM degrees; 

2) **Integrate Appreciative and Career Advising.**Revamp campus advising approach to incorporate appreciative advising strategies and alignment with career pathways to improve persistence, time to degree completion, and graduation rates; 

3) **Build Capacity for New Student Engagement Strategies.**Increase the focus of campus and professional development infrastructure and programming on inclusion and equity, learning, and faculty innovations supportive of student success to better serve low-income and Hispanic students. 

To attain the overarching goal of improving the six-year graduation rate for Hispanic and other high-need students to 25.7 percent over the grant period, faculty and staff across campus will participate in trainings and other initiatives to engage students as well as efforts to reduce remediation, average credit hours accumulated upon graduation, and time to degree completion. 

To build its capacity to develop, implement, and sustain these key initiatives within the five-year grant period, ASU requests $2,584,038 in Title V funding.  This investment of support will substantially increase bachelor’s degree attainment for ASU’s high-need students and prepare them for success in their careers. The project meets both Competitive Preference Priorities. 

### P031S150019

### Colorado State University – Pueblo, Pueblo, CO 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Colorado State University-Pueblo (CSU-Pueblo) is a Colorado based, state-funded, four-year, public university located in Southern Colorado, Pueblo County.  CSU-Pueblo is a regional comprehensive, Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), providing educational access to a region high in poverty, unemployment, and an underserved female and minority community.

CSU-Pueblo’s Title V grant project, the Spanish word for “teacher,” *MAESTRO*, or Mastering Academic Excellence, Success, Teaching, and Research Opportunities, will overcome weaknesses identified through ongoing assessment and analysis and will put into place an innovative *Center for Teaching and Learning*(CTL), through which we will orchestrate a number of “high impact practices” designed to create enriching academic, field-based, and experiential learning opportunities for our highly diverse student population.

*MAESTRO*has a single purpose – establish an academically-centered, faculty-run center under which several academic, advising, instructional programs, and related outreach opportunities will be located, administered, and supported. Four primary “Innovations” will thrive under the direction of the CTL. These include:

•Institutionalized Support for Professional Development, Assessment, and Innovative

Teaching and Experiential Education

•Integrated Writing Across the Curriculum Program

•“Pack on Track,” Advising and Mentoring Program, Including “summer bridge program”

•Advising and Degree/Graduation Audit Software

By bringing faculty more firmly into the central mission of “whole student” success (the central aim of existing student services), and by broadening the scope of research, teaching, and learning at CSU-Pueblo, we will assist students in achieving college-preparedness, with success in general education courses, and in long-term academic/career planning.

Amount Requested: The total request for this project is $2,619,094 over five years. This represents approximately 77 percent invested in salaries, fringe benefits, and faculty/staff stipends; 10 percent for equipment and supplies; four percent for travel; seven percent for contractual; .5 percent for other expenses.  Program Management and Evaluation:  CSU-Pueblo is requesting $40,000 over five years to support the program management dimension of the project which includes the cost of an external evaluator during each year of the grant award.

### P031S150013

### Miami Dade College Hialeah Campus, Hialeah, FL 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Miami Dade College Hialeah Campus is located in the city of Hialeah, and is the third smallest campus of Miami Dade College (MDC). The student body at the Hialeah Campus is

89 percent Hispanic, and has 84 percent academically underprepared students—the highest percentage of any other campus. Hialeah Campus has identified introductory ‘gateway’ mathematics and science courses as obstacles to progression, retention, and postsecondary completion among Hispanic and other low-income students. Consequently, the campus will implement the *Science Students Achieving Success*project to improve student academic and postsecondary success.

The *Science Students Achieving Success*project will establish a Professional Development Institute to design and deliver high-impact pedagogical practices using active, experiential learning in lectures and discovery-based laboratories for students taking College Algebra, Anatomy and Physiology, Health Sciences Chemistry, and non-majors Biology.  SSAS will provide professional development in active learning pedagogies, curricular innovations, educational technology, modern laboratory equipment, and tutoring from Learning Assistants.  In targeting introductory science and mathematics courses the project has the potential to impact all 8,718 credit-seeking students, and will serve at least 1,600 enrolled students.

By September 30, 2020, the project will achieve the following objectives: (1) increase the percentage of science and mathematics faculty incorporating new pedagogical techniques and content into curriculum and instruction by at least 50 percent; (2) increase the percentage of students successfully passing Health Science STEM courses from the 2013 college-wide baseline pass rate by at least three-five percent; and (3) increase percentage of students reporting learning gains and improved learning outcomes in targeted courses by 5 percentage points.

The project requests $2,621,796.20 over the five-year project period.

### P031S150046

### Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus, Miami, FL 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Miami Dade College (MDC) Wolfson Campus requests $2,614,677 to implement *ARCOS (Accelerate, Retain, Complete with Opportunities and Support).*Arcos is a Spanish word that translates in English to “arches.”  Over the project period, *ARCOS*will serve 600 students enrolled in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines with the goal of improving retention, progression, and completion rates among Hispanic and other low-income, high-need students.  *ARCOS*seeks to be the structure that spans the space for its participants from the beginning of their college experience through to completion and transfer to a university or a career in STEM.

*ARCOS*consists of two activities: 1) SMAART (Support, Mentor, Advise, Accelerate, Retain, and Transfer); and 2) ARCademics focused on integrating academic and student support. SMAART components include:  a) acceleration and family/friend engagement through Fast and Furious with Friends and Family (F4) programming; b) appreciative advising; c) three-tier mentoring; d) non-cognitive interventions; and e) *ARCOS*workshops.  ARCademics consists of:  a) hybrid and other high impact course design; b) early undergraduate research and project opportunities; c) Peer Academic Leadership (PALs) program; d) *MyWay*tutoring; and e) team-based learning. 

The project’s measurable objectives include: 1) 70 percent of student participants persist and/or graduate in STEM from one academic year to the next; 2) 35 percent of student participants graduate and or transfer from an associate’s to a bachelor’s program within three years; 3) 60 percent of students successfully complete or place out of College Algebra during their first year of college; 4) 80 percent of graduates transfer with at least 50 percent of required STEM elective courses; 5) new designed courses will have a five percent increase in pass rates; and 6) 80 percent of students will successfully complete assigned research /project.

### P031S150012

### Nova Southern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

This Title V Individual Application addresses a variety of identified academic, management, and fiscal weaknesses at Nova Southeastern University that serve as roadblocks to students, especially our large and growing Hispanic/Latino population, preventing them from earning the highest possible academic credentials needed to enter fulfilling STEM careers in fields related to Engineering and Computing.  Through a combination of new and redesigned instructional and support services, NSU will transform the undergraduate programming at the entire College of Engineering and Computing, creating a more accessible and efficient pathway that produces well-educated graduates with content knowledge and critical skills necessary for workplace success. The project has four overarching project goals:  (1) Close achievement gaps in programs and courses where students are at high risk of failure or withdrawal.  (2) Support for transition through completion of the baccalaureate degree.  (3) Strengthen opportunity equity for all students.  (4) Improve operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness involving informed decision- making.

Funding will support the development of numerous new and enhanced strategies to support the success of Engineering and Computing students, including Early Outreach; Faculty Involvement in Academic and Career Advising; First and Second Year Programming; Specialized Orientation; Undergraduate Research and internship Opportunities; Peer and Faculty Mentoring/Early Warning System/Intrusive Advisement; Data-Informed Tracking; and Critical Thinking/Project-Based   Learning, Program/Curriculum Development. Outcomes impacting the College of Engineering and Computing will include: (1) 40 percent increase in the number of full-time First Year students who enroll in baccalaureate programs. (2) 100 percent increase in the number of Hispanic/Latino freshmen declaring a major. (3) 12 percentage point increase in the Fall-to-Fall retention rate of full-time majors. (4) Elimination of the gap between Hispanic/Latino and non- Hispanic/Latino students retained in baccalaureate programs. (5) 10 percentage point increase in the Fall-to-Fall retention rate of full-time freshman and sophomore majors. (6) 15 percent increase in the number of full-time majors who participate in a high quality undergraduate research and/or work-based learning experience*.*(7) 14 percentage point increase in the percentage of full-time majors who graduate within six years of initial enrollment. (8) 20 percentage point increase in the percentage of students who indicate above average levels of engagement.

Hispanic/Latinos, as well as other high-need and low-income students, will experience: (1) timely progression through the Engineering and Computing programs through expanded support that identifies and addresses student needs upon admission and through key degree progression points; (2) fewer impediments to learning, as needs are more proactively anticipated and addressed; (3) sustainable curriculum changes.  The strategies proposed in this project will result in outcomes that are not only successful, but also useful as they advance the body of educational research that addresses learning factors that impact STEM student success, STEM education, and approaches to learning that motivate diverse populations of students. The broadening of participation among underrepresented high- need groups contributes to broader societal goals by increasing the economic standing of successful graduates who become employed in higher paying STEM fields.

### P031S150015

### Miami Dade College Kendall Campus, Miami, FL 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Miami Dade College (MDC) Kendall Campus is proposing to implement the project, *STEM Talent Opportunity Priority*(STEM TOP), to address grossly underrepresented Hispanics in STEM disciplines. Kendall Campus will improve enrollment, success, retention, and progression rates among STEM declared Hispanic and low income students through the STEM TOP program. To form a STEM TOP experience, the Campus will implement three main activities: (1) Peer-Led Tutoring (PLTL); (2) STEM Undergraduate Research - PRISM (Program Research in Involved, Science and Math); and (3) SCSE - Stem Center for Student Engagement.

STEM TOP is defined as “a comprehensive approach to directly impact student interactions in their undergraduate experience,” involving “a campus-wide approach to increasing student success.”

1. National surveys have shown that most STEM undergraduate programs target only students (ages 17-19) requiring Developmental Education and offer a student life orientation seminar with normal supporting academic and student services, such as tutoring. 

2. All activities will be tailored for Hispanics of all ages, who have family and work responsibilities, and targeted for either undecided or actual STEM declared students, both college-ready and students in need of remediation.  

In order to complete the above, MDC Kendall Campus is requesting $2,621,817 over the five-year grant period, beginning with $524,373 for the first year.

### P031S150020

### Valencia College – East Campus, Orlando, FL 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Valencia College – East Campus (VC-East) is a public, comprehensive community college providing opportunities for academic, technical and life-long learning in a collaborative culture dedicated to inquiry, results and excellence. The Title V planning process resulted in the identification of the following weaknesses: 1) a limited system to support early alert; 2) inadequate technological support for identifying and tracking at-risk students; 3) inadequate advising models to provide personalized advising; 4) limited capacity to align transfer pathways; 5) inadequate preparation of students for the university experience; 6) declining funding streams; 7) increasing student financial need; and 8) declining tuition resources from attrition.  

Through this Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions proposal, VC-East leadership proposes strategies to build infrastructure and capacity to achieve three goals:

Academic Programs – Goal 1: Enhance college infrastructure for increased engagement between students, faculty, and advisors.

Institutional Management – Goal 2: Increase student readiness for baccalaureate transfer by increasing capacity for advising through enhanced advising, new faculty roles and technology. 

Fiscal Management – Goal 3: Strengthen data collection and analysis to reduce redundancy, increase efficiency, and support collaboration.

To achieve these goals, the project will achieve the following measurable objectives: Objective 1.1: By September 30th, 2020, the percent of VC-East, FTIC, AA-degree seeking students persisting from fall to fall will increase from 64 percent (baseline) to 70 percent (an increase of six percentage points).  Objective 1.2: By September 30th, 2020 the percent of VC East FTIC, AA-degree seeking students graduating within three years will increase from 29 percent (baseline) to 34 percent (an increase of five percentage points).  Objective 1.3: By September 30th, 2020, the cumulative number of Hispanic students transferring to the University of Central Florida (UCF) will increase five percent from 1,182 (baseline) to 1,245.  Objective 1.4: By September 30th, 2020, the number of targeted students who complete the required prerequisites for their major prior to transfer within the A.A. degree will increase by five percent (from Year 1 to Year 5 of the project; baseline set in Year 1).

Objective 1.5: By September 30th, 2020, 80 percent of targeted students with an assigned faculty advisor will engage in at least one advising session with that faculty advisor per semester.

To meet the goal and objectives, VC-East will implement strategies in three areas:

Advising – Pilot new advising curriculum for students with 15+ credit hours with specialized Transfer; Program Advisors and advising roles for part-time and full-time faculty advising;   Align AA meta majors with UCF baccalaureate programs;   Enhance student transfer workshops and scale university visitation program; Learning Support –Design and pilot an Early Alert System with integrated software; Develop a Data Team to support evaluation and evidence based decision making.  Technology – Institute constituent relationship management (CRM) software enhancements for advising and early alert supporting collaboration across departments.

### P031S150017

### Valencia College – Osceola Campus, Kissimmee, FL 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Valencia College – Osceola (VC-Osceola) is one of five branch campuses located in Central Florida. Broad based institutional and community participation and consensus building resulted in the proposed five-year plan to improve student outcomes, focusing on Hispanic and low-income students.  Through this Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) proposal, VC-Osceola leadership proposes strategies to build infrastructure and capacity to achieve the overarching goal: develop and build a strategic infrastructure to support unduplicated, accelerated pathways to increase student access.

The five-year comprehensive development plan includes implementation of the following based on evidenced-based strategies.

· Improve existing and develop new College to Careers Pathways that are seamless, accelerated, and lead to industry credentials offered in non-traditional scheduling modes.

· In partnership with the school district, employers, and community leaders, develop a data- driven comprehensive strategic plan for College to Career Pathways in alignment with local workforce needs.

· Build communication and college transition systems to increase access for students pursuing

· College to Career Pathways.

· Create mechanisms to award financial aid in non-traditional ways to serve students enrolling in expanded Colleges to Career Pathways.

· Implement Ad Astra class scheduling software to reduce the underutilization of available classroom space to increase student access to CTE pathways.

· Implement Blackboard Collaborate live video classes across Campuses to increase accessibility for students pursuing CTE pathways.

### P031S150225

### Carlos Albizu University Miami, Miami, FL 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Carlos Albizu University (CAU) is a small private, non-profit baccalaureate and post- baccalaureate university with campuses in Miami, Florida, and in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  The Miami campus (applicant) is located in the suburban City of Doral (79 percent Hispanic population).  CAU-Miami offers three professional baccalaureate programs of study (Special Education, Psychology and Elementary Education) designed for real-world, culturally-informed learning that will benefit graduates in their careers.  This approach underpins the unique Carlos Albizu University philosophy making no distinction between learning and social awareness. 

During fall 2014, CAU-Miami enrolled 311 undergraduate students and 689 graduate students.  A majority of students are Hispanic (85 percent), female (76 percent), nontraditional-aged (89 percent) and low-income (89 percent). Students are challenged to complete a program of study; at least 80 percent have work commitments.

INTERAC TIVE AND ACC ESS IB LE LEARNING AND SUPPOR T FOR HIGH-NEED STUDENTS *Increased and Flexible Access to Instruction:*Meeting the needs of time-constrained students, selected majors and foundational courses in the three bachelor’s degree programs offered by CAU-Miami will be redesigned as hybrid and online.  Faculty will be supported with training and resources to redesign courses as high quality and interactive.  A Faculty Design Lab will provide space and technology resources for course redesign and for facilitating on-campus learning and student collaboration via videoconferencing.

*Interactive Learning and Support Services:*Addressing limited academic and student support services, new student spaces and resources will be developed, modeled on leading edge innovations practiced at top universities in the United States that promote persistence in college.

*Student Learning Commons to Support the Scholar-Learner:*This interactive student space will simulate the professional, real-world collaborative work environment, including virtualized desktops and videoconferencing capabilities for students and faculty mentors. Student Learning Assistants will meet with students to provide a combination of mentoring and tutoring.

*Student Support Hub:*This space will facilitate interactive student support services (peer to peer and student to faculty).  Student Learning Assistants (peers) will provide mentoring services to promote persistence and timely degree completion.  Multiple communication channels will be utilized by the Student Learning Assistants– in person and via e-mail, telephone, text and social media to help students stay on track to timely completion.

*Classroom-as-Learn Lab to Facilitate Interactive Learning:*Traditional classrooms where hybrid courses are taught will become learn labs facilitating interaction and collaboration among students. These learner-centric classrooms will fully engage the learner, considered a best practice for Hispanic student success.

### P031S150022

### Miami Dade College Inter American Campus, Miami, FL 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

The InterAmerican Campus of Miami Dade College (MDC-IAC) requests $2,190,148 to establish the *Institute of Teaching and Learning.*The project is designed to improve retention, progression, and completion rates among Hispanic and other low-income students by training faculty to implement three research-based, student-centered pedagogies known to improve academic success for diverse student populations: Peer-Led Team Learning, Differentiated Instruction, and Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning.  The project will impact a minimum of 3,000 students during the grant period and improve the percentages of Hispanic and other low-income students who persist from fall-term to fall-term, earn 12 credits the first year and 24 credits in two years, and earn a college credential within 5 years.

The project will consist of a single activity—establishing the *Institute of Teaching and Learning—*built on three components: professional development and technical assistance for faculty, development of a faculty expert cadre, and collection and dissemination of best practices.  The proposed project will serve the 83 full-time and 156 part-time faculty of the InterAmerican Campus.  Each year, the proposed project will (1) train faculty participants to implement a student-focused pedagogy; (2) develop a cadre of faculty experts through a train- the-trainer intensive program as a way of fostering the sustainability of the student-focused pedagogy trainings, with the faculty experts conducting future faculty trainings for the *Institute;*(3) establish faculty learning communities focusing on exchange of best practices; (4) create an online teaching and learning repository of best practices; and (5) measure the project’s impact on student retention, progression, and completion using a rigorous evaluation plan integrating the statistical requirements of U.S. Department of Education annual performance reports with existing MDC Institutional Research data collection and analysis systems.

### P031S150062

### Broward College, Davie, FL 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

INaugural Experience, Support and Tracking:  I-NEST Broward College (BC) is the first and largest institution of higher education in Broward County. Located in the greater Fort Lauderdale area, the college served 68,388 students in 2014-2015 through three campuses, nine centers and a Virtual college.

With Florida’s new higher education funding model, BC is ranked highest in two key areas – student retention and entry-level wages, and lowest in three critical areas – credit milestone attainment, time to degree and completion, compared to its peer colleges.  In addition, statewide concerns about low persistence and retention prompted eliminating of required developmental education courses and allowing students to move quickly into for-credit courses.  This wave of change led BC to examine its practices and adopt “game-changing” strategies.

BC’s Title V project, entitled, I-NEST, (Inaugural Experience, Support and Tracking) goals include: Increased achievement of credit milestones, Decreased time to attain degrees and Completion of academic programs among Hispanic, minority and low income students. Intervention strategies will leverage elements currently in development; Orientation and First Year Experience programs, an Early Alert System and will develop new tools to help improve student performance, including professional development for faculty and staff resources and tools for students. BC’s Business Administration career pathway will be used to pilot, evaluate and scale program activities including alignment of learning outcomes across pathway courses, contextualization of course content and coordination of academic and student support resources. 

Long term outcomes, supported by Title V funds, will include increased completion and award of Associate’s degrees, decreased achievement gaps between Hispanic, minority and low incomes students and all students and an improved model for college wide integration instruction and student support.

### P031S150175

### Universidad del Turabo – Metro Orlando Campus, Orlando, FL 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Proposed Project:  *Creating a Hispanic Talent Pipeline for Florida Health Care*

Background/Service Area: Universidad del Turabo–Metro Orlando Center (Turabo-MOC or MOC), an accredited branch campus (Middle States Commission on Higher Education) and part of the Ana G. Mendez University System, is a private non-profit Hispanic Serving Institution located in the Orlando metropolitan area and serving a five-county area.  With a particular focus on serving adults that would otherwise not have an opportunity to earn a degree, Turabo-MOC’s student population is 100 percent Hispanic, 81 percent working, average age of 34.  Higher income from the tourism industry generates a median household income of $42,147, yet our service area has high poverty (Orlando -19 percent; Kissimmee - 24 percent) and 76 percent of our students report incomes below $30,000.  Institutional Problems: Turabo-MOC has an opportunity to capitalize on the current and increasing demand for diagnostic medical sonographers, particularly professionals with bilingual (English/Spanish) skills.  MOC is well poised to prepare students to enter this promising healthcare field for two key reasons: 1) our geographic location, where being a bilingual and biliterate professional is highly marketable; and 2) our proven success in generating graduates with competencies in their field of study in both English and Spanish.  However, Turabo-MOC must overcome significant institutional challenges before it can provide more Hispanic students increased access to employment opportunities in high-demand healthcare professions. Our weaknesses and challenges revolve around two primary issues: a significant gap in academicprogramming and instructional facilities and resources that are not adequate to prepare students to succeed as 21st century healthcare professionals.

Proposed Solutions: Turabo-MOC’s deficiencies will be strategically addressed through this

Title V Activity, which proposes the following:

· Develop a Diagnostic Medical Sonography Technician Associate Degree (AS-DMS);

· Adapt new AS-DMS curricula to a hybrid format (part online, part face-to-face) to provide increased /convenient access;

· Equip MOC’s existing nursing lab with state-of-the-art simulation technology equipment;

· Incorporate strategies to promote success in national Nursing exam in nursing courses;

· Develop three media-rich science labs (biology and chemistry) and a sonography lab with appropriate equipment and innovative educational resources to enable virtual biology, chemistry, and sonography instruction, in support of the nursing and sonography programs.  

The new Diagnostic Medical Sonography courses and the redesigned Nursing curricula will be institutionalized at the conclusion of the grant period.  These solutions are designed to meet our students’ needs as we help them succeed. In the process of designing this Activity, Turabo-MOC researched similar programs at top tier universities and similar programs at Hispanic Serving Institutions to identify creative or innovative approaches from which our students can benefit. As a result, this Title V 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 students.

### P031S150191

### Waubonsee Community College, Sugar Grove, IL 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Institutional Background: Waubonsee Community College (WCC) is a learning-centered, open- enrollment, comprehensive community college providing transfer credit, career and technical preparatory education, and other educational services to the residents of District #516 in the state of Illinois. Illinois has the fifth highest Hispanic population in the nation.  The 624 square-mile WCC service area includes portions of five counties: Kane, Kendall, LaSalle, DeKalb and Will and serves over 22 municipalities.  The current service area population of 428,000 is expected to grow to more than 510,000 by the year 2020. The overall minority population in the district is 41 percent.

Absolute Priority. This project meets the Absolute Priority by increasing the number and proportion of high-need students who will complete college on-time.

Competitive Preference Priorities. This project meets Competitive Preference Priority #1 by providing counseling and student services designed to improve academic success. It meets Competitive Preference Priority #2 by supporting the development of high-quality online/hybrid credit-bearing courses that will increase within-term student success in online courses to reduce course repeats and decrease time to degree completion.

Improving Student Success, Completion and Time to Degree. This Title V project will increase within-term retention; first fall to second fall retention; first fall to third fall retention; two-year degree completion within 150 percent of normal time; decrease time to degree; increase credit accumulation through prior learning assessment.

Key Outcomes: 1) Close the achievement gap between Hispanic learners and non-Hispanic learners; 2) increase the number of degrees and certificates awarded to Hispanic and low-income students by 8.9 percent; 3) increase the proportion of first-time, degree-seeking Hispanic and low-income students who graduate within 150 percent of normal time to completion; and 4) improve the quality of online courses and student success rates in online courses.

Student Body Characteristics

Fall 2014 Headcount Enrollment:  Undergraduate:  11,904. Ethnicity: White-51.0 percent; Hispanic/Latino-34 percent; Black or African American-7.0 percent; Asian-3.0 percent; American Indian or Alaska Native-0.2 percent; Native Hawaiian-0.1 percent; Other, Not Listed: 1.2 percent; Prefer Not to Answer: 2.2 percent.

Faculty Characteristics:  Faculty to credit student ratio:  1:22 Full-time: 105; Part-time:  484.

Five-Year Project Budget:  $2,625,000.

### P031S150026

### Harry S Truman College, Chicago, IL 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Truman College, one of the largest of the City Colleges of Chicago, has a yearly headcount enrollment of over 19,000 students across three major divisions.  Truman students come from 160 countries and speak more than 90 languages. In fiscal year 2014, 40 percent of Truman’s student population was Hispanic.

Our significant populations of developmental students, English as a Second Language students, and low-income students require us to provide many specialized, high-quality opportunities for academic support outside the classroom.  Therefore, we started a Math Center and a Writing Center and aligned the tutoring pedagogy in these centers with the department curricula.  Due to the increasing success and demand of these two centers, we created a Critical Reading Center, which we would like to expand, and would like to implement a Science Center.

The Critical Reading and Science Centers will strengthen a cohort of academic support centers that demonstrated to meet the specific academic needs of Hispanic students and other low- income students and will therefore support the Absolute Priority of the Title V Hispanic-Serving Institutions grant to “increase the number and proportion of high-need students who are academically prepared for, enroll in, or complete on time college, other postsecondary education, or other career and technical education.”

The expansion of the Critical Reading Center will:

· Improve literacy and critical reading skills, resulting in higher course success rates in Foundational Studies Reading, Developmental Reading Skills I, and Developmental Reading Skills II

· Provide students with reading strategies and skills useful for assigned reading materials, resulting in higher success rates in college-level courses.

· Provide assistance with course readings and concepts in targeted courses, resulting in higher retention and success rates in those courses

· Allow students to independently build their vocabulary to a college level, resulting in improved performance on writing assignments.

· Promote reading outside of coursework and engagement with world events, resulting in greater student enthusiasm for print media

Through the implementation of a Science Center, Truman College will:

· Provide qualified science tutors who will be available to students at convenient hours, along with the technology and facilities required to maximize the productivity of tutoring sessions. The tutoring services will result in more students seeking help with science classes, higher retention rates, and higher success rates.

· Provide additional assistance on key science concepts, resulting in higher retention and success rates in science courses.

· Provide students with lab equipment that will allow them to practice lab procedures with tutors, resulting in higher retention and success rates in science courses with a lab component.

### P031S150235

### Dodge City Community College, Dodge City, KS 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Dodge City Community College (DCCC) (Dodge City, KS) is a two-year, public community college serving a 9,000 square mile, nine-county rural service area (population 59,374) in southwestern Kansas.  More than one in three (34 percent) of service area residents are Hispanic, including more than half the residents (52 percent) of Ford County, home of DCCC.  Unfortunately, educational attainment among Hispanic residents is particularly low (40 percent with a high school diploma and a mere five percent with a baccalaureate degree), and 18 percent live in poverty.  Yet Hispanic residents increasingly seek the advantage of higher education and now represent 36 percent of DCCC’s student body. Most of these students are low income (56 percent), and 84 percent are first generation in college.

The College’s high-need students – including much of our Hispanic population – are particularly unlikely to persist through and complete college.  Fewer than half of students enrolling at DCCC in Fall 2013 (49 percent) persisted to Fall 2014; among Hispanic students, persistence was lower, at just 42 percent.  Given these statistics, it is little surprise that DCCC’s graduation rates are low. Of students enrolling in Fall 2011, just one in four (25 percent) had graduated by Spring 2014, lagging below the 31percent national average for two-year institutions (U.S. Census 2013, Institutional Data 2015). Of students first enrolling in Fall 2010, just 18 percent had both graduated and transferred to a four-year institution by 2014; among Hispanic students enrolling in 2010, only 14 percent graduated and transferred by 2014 (Institutional Data, 2015).

We propose a Title V project to address the central causes of students’ poor rates of persistence, completion, and transfer. *Connecting to Success*includes initiatives designed to improve academic success across Basic Skills, ESL, and high-risk college offerings – improving instructional strategies and tools to better engage students in courses where, over 2011-2014, up to 79 percent of students failed (earning grades below “C”).  At the same time, we propose new advising services – including Foundational Advising for students entering the College at the Basic Skills and/or ESL level, as well as Transfer and Career Advising and Resources.  We also propose to develop a new Academic Early Alert/Progress Tracking system, supported by Titanium Retention software, and new services to assist high-need, first generation students develop essential skills – financial literacy, self-advocacy, academic strategies – for successfully navigating the journey to postsecondary completion, transfer, and career attainment.  New advising services and high-need student services will be housed in a new Connections Center; a space configured and equipped to promote productive collaboration and college engagement.

Proposed initiatives will be supported by robust classroom technology, including Smartboards and multimedia stations facilitating interactive, active learning strategies, including in-class collaboration and capture of content for “flipped classroom” instruction and online delivery. Foundational to all initiatives is virtualization of DCCC’s desktop terminals, replacing the College’s largely outdated workstations with more cost-effective and sustainable technology with the capacity and flexibility to sustain instructional innovations in a cost-effective way.

### P031S150041

### Cumberland County College Dodge, Vineland, NJ 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Cumberland County College (CCC), located in Vineland, New Jersey, is a public, two-year institution within the New Jersey Community College system.  Since its founding in 1966, CCC has provided quality, affordable, open admissions education for more than 73,000 students.  CCC supports a diverse county.  Hispanics constitute 28.6 percent of the county population.  Combined with the African-American population (21.8 percent), these two minorities constitute the majority (50.4 percent) of county residents, placing Cumberland among the earliest “majority-minority” counties in the U.S. Cumberland County’s Hispanic population has a poverty rate of 29 percent and an unemployment rate of 12.2 percent.

“Vías Hacia la Graduación” builds on Completion by Design’s (CbD’s) best practices for case management and integrates an innovative set of 10 “touch points” from enrollment through graduation. Each “touch point” will trigger an early, intrusive intervention, designed to support achievement of each student’s selected Pathway to Graduation. Both Competitive Preference Priorities #1 and #2 are integrated into the program and are addressed in this proposal. To implement this approach, “Vías Hacia la Graduación” includes the following specific elements:

1. Student selection of a Pathway to Graduation, a timeline for graduation that informs the student’s My Academic Plan (MAP)

2. Case management strategy, coordinated by Pathways Academic Coaches

3. Academic advising interventions

4. Incremental, milestone-driven interventions for developmental and gateway courses

5. Tutoring expansion, with bilingual tutors

6. Revision of ESL, Summer Bridge, and Freshman Seminar to include a hybrid modality

7. Campus leadership opportunities for Hispanic students

8. Bilingual communication assistance available at each of the 10 “touch points”

9. New technology to trigger human intervention at each of the 10 “touch points”

10. New technology to create a comprehensive Electronic Student Record (ESR) for each student that will document interventions at each “touch point” and allow for real-time access and interdepartmental coordination

11. Professional development on a wide range of topics, to support “Vías Hacia la Graduación”

“Vías Hacia la Graduación” includes detailed performance indicators that are linked to the short-, mid-, and long-term outcomes of a corresponding logic model. Key outcomes include:

1. Increased retention:  By the end of the grant period, the percentage of first-time, full-time

2. Hispanic students who enter in the fall and return the next fall will increase from 60 percent to 70 percent.

3. Increased persistence:  By the end of the grant period, the Pathways to Graduation will be established, and 65 percent of full-time Hispanic students will be on-track toward the graduation timeline they chose for their Pathway to Graduation.

4. Increased graduation:  By the end of the grant period, the percentage of first-time, full-time Hispanic students who graduate within three years will increase from 14 percent to 28 percent.

### P031S150241

### Clovis Community College, Clovis, NM 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

*Background:*Located in Curry County in the eastern region of New Mexico, not far from the west Texas border, Clovis Community College (public two-year, Hispanic-serving, non-selective) enrolls predominately low-income (53 percent), first-generation college (71 percent), non- traditional aged (mean 32 years) and female (65 percent) students. One-third of students are Hispanic (32 percent; 1,188). The College enrolled 3,751 students (734 full-time; 3,017 part-time) during Fall 2014. Military personnel (active duty, spouse or dependent) comprised nine percent of the total student enrollment at the College. Among military family students, a high percentage (65 percent) is minority (Hispanic and African-American).

Low economic status in Curry County (26 percent Hispanic poverty compared to 20 percent for New Mexico and 19 percent of the United States) correlates to lower educational attainment here. Only 21 percent of adults 25 and over attained a bachelor’s degree or higher in Curry County (U.S. = 29 percent). For Hispanic adults, the rate was just six percent. A majority (76.6 percent) of first entering students are underprepared for college-level studies (89 percent Hispanic and 93 percent low-income students). They are placed in developmental courses which delays progress in college. A trend of low graduation and/or transfer rates (18.6 percent within three years) is compounded by low student retention (55.6 percent).

*Title V Activity:  Accelerating Progress for High Need Hispanic and Low-Income Students*

The Activity has two key components:

· *High Quality, Adaptive/Accelerated and Engaged Instruction*

· *Individualized Student Support – Success Coaching.*

The first Activity focus is on instruction with two components: developing and piloting accelerated/adaptive developmental curriculum and redesigning online courses to meet quality standards and face-to-face courses as engaged and technology-integrated. The second Activity focus is on individualized student support—success coaching via peer mentoring + tutoring and an early alert system to identify at-risk students and intervene in time to prevent failure. 

### P031S150006

### University of New Mexico Valencia Branch Campus, Los Lunas, NM 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

The University of New Mexico Valencia Branch Campus (UNM Valencia, UNM-V) ensures that all individuals will have access to and can participate in the *Next Generation Project.*The goal of the project is to increase the completion and graduation rates of Hispanic and low income students. The UNM Valencia 2012-2017 Strategic Plan includes a strategic component to “Expand Access to Students:  To extend our reach by reducing barriers to enrollment.”  The Next Generation Project will ensure that no student, staff or faculty member is hindered or barred from participation in project activities.

New Writing Center and Math Center:  The open environment created by the new Writing Center remodel will make the Learning Center more easily accessible to students with physical disabilities.  The Math Center and the Supplemental Instruction room, both located in the Learning Center, are equipped with a special desk for wheelchair users.  These computer stations are adjustable and movable to accommodate the student as needed. The Writing Center will coordinate effective help for Second Language Learners who struggle with writing in English.

New Distance Education Programs and Courses:  The new distance education structure will deliver full online degree programs and courses to the rural service area across central New Mexico.  Online and hybridized courses and degree programs will be fully accessible to any student regardless of race, gender, nationality, color, disability or age.  Special accommodations for disability students can be made through UNM-V Equal Access Services.

Integrated Information Technology (IIT) Program - The new IIT Program will be designed to attract students of any gender, age, nationality, or disability.  The new curriculum will attract non-traditional students by promoting the program to current students, graduating high school students, and Second Language learners.  Program flyers, for students and families, will be printed in both English and Spanish.  Accommodations can be made for students with disabilities through UNM-V Equal Access Services.

Our student population ranges from traditional aged students to senior citizens. Our activity will not deter students of any age from receiving assistance from instructors or tutors. Our hiring practices stress hiring qualified instructors and advisors from under-represented populations and follow all university, state, and federal policies and procedures which forbid unlawful discrimination of all terms of employment.

All faculty are required to include a statement on their syllabi about UNM Valencia Equal Access Services, designed to provide academic support for qualified students with disabilities. Faculty and staff are trained in equal access services provided to all students, regardless of gender, race, national origin, color, disability, or age. UNM-V provides note takers, sign language interpreters, recording equipment, classroom capture, and extra time on exams for qualified students. UNM Main Campus assists us with additional equal access services, such as creating Braille textbooks and recorded textbooks on digital media. If a special accommodation is needed, it will be addressed through UNM-V Equal Access Services.

### P031S150178

### Research Foundation CUNY on behalf of LaGuardia Community College, New York, NY 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

As economic change and technological transformation spur growing demand for STEM workers, cultivating the abilities of all Americans has never been more important. “We need to get the most out of all our nation’s talent,” President Obama has said, “and that means reaching out to men and women of all races and backgrounds.”

LaGuardia Community College (CUNY) is well-positioned to address this need. Serving a student body that is 40 percent Hispanic and overwhelmingly high need, LaGuardia has a solid foundation in STEM education. Now LaGuardia is poised to expand and update its STEM offerings; deploy adaptive digital resources for high impact instruction and academic support; and prepare 12,000 students for advanced STEM education and careers.

Building on the blueprint outlined by Bailey et.al. in *Redesigning America’s Community Colleges*(2015), LaGuardia requests Title V funding for *Project AVANZAR*, which will create clear pathways to STEM completion through four mutually reinforcing tasks:

Major Task 1.  Build Access to Success. LaGuardia will address workforce needs and create hybrid ladders to completion by creating at least 10 new majors and at least 10 new stackable certificates in high demand fields such as Forensic Science, Cyber Security and Energy Technician.

Major Task 2.  Strengthen Support. LaGuardia will implement e-advisement, online preparation courses and digital badging to engage and support STEM students.

Major Task 3.  Clear the Hurdle: Rethink Remedial Mathematics*.*LaGuardia will address a major obstacle to STEM completion with accelerated learning courses to speed more high need students through remedial mathematics.

Major Task 4: Transform STEM Teaching: Advance Learning & Completion. LaGuardia will advance STEM success by empowering faculty to use high impact pedagogy, undergraduate research, and the adaptive digital resources of the Open Learning Initiative.

*Project AVANZAR*mobilizes a set of proven innovations, each of great value. Yet *AVANZAR’s*true power is the way these tasks combine into a coordinated and complementary redesign of the educational experience. We will link curricular restructuring with workforce needs, new support systems, and broad change in pedagogy, from developmental math to discipline-based capstones. Scaffolding students’ research experiences and engaging them with discipline faculty, we will speed students to completion and prepare them for advanced STEM education and careers.  The promise of Project *AVANZAR*is underscored by its name. In Spanish, *avanzar*describes actions that move forward. It can be used in relation to a scientific advance or individual progress towards a set of goals. *Avanzar mejor*means to do better, to improve.  Most commonly, *avanzar*evokes the persistent movement forward of a large group or a body of people. At LaGuardia, Project *AVANZAR*will help us effectively advance thousands of high need students to successful education.

### P031S150042

### Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology, Elmhurst, NY 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

“Project SOAR: Supporting Outstanding Achievement and Retention for Hispanic and

Other High-Need Students”

Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology is a small private, four-year college located in Flushing (in the Queens borough of New York City).  As a Hispanic-Serving Institution (38 percent Hispanic enrollment), Vaughn has also undergone a transformation in institutional culture in recent years, adapting our founding mission to a changing world and the special needs of our diverse students.  Our redesigned programs and services build on our aeronautical heritage, offering high quality associates degrees in aviation, as well as B.S. degrees in non-aviation areas such as Mechanical, Electrical and Mechatronic Engineering Technology and General Management. Vaughn’s deeply held tradition of helping students “soar” towards success, has influenced this project that aims to increase the number of students who are enrolled, persist, and graduate with high-earning degrees. This project addresses all Title V 2015 Priorities.

### P031S150057

### Universidad Adventista De Las Antillas, Mayaguez, PR 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Universidad Adventista de las Antillas (UAA) is a private coeducational non-profit Christian institution located in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Mental, physical, social, and spiritual health; intellectual growth; and service to humanity form a core of essential values embraced by UAA. Our faith- based curriculum attracts students from across the island. We accept and welcome our responsibility of service to the people of Puerto Rico, and we realize that this is indeed a challenge. Almost two-thirds (66 percent) of all undergraduates are pursuing a health sciences degree and 51 percent are enrolled in the Nursing program.  We are fortunate to have well established collaboration agreements with area hospitals and healthcare agencies which create employment opportunities for our graduates.

However, we have reached the maximum capacity for enrollment in healthcare programs and our outdated infrastructure and equipment is making it more and more difficult to maintain academic quality. This application has been prepared after a careful analysis of challenges facing UAA. We submit this proposal for a project titled ***Expanding Capacity and Strengthening Health Sciences Degree Programs.***We request **$2,623,153**over five years to: 1) Revise nursing and Respiratory Care curriculum for improved instructional quality inclusive of innovative high-definition patient simulation technology; 2) Expand access to healthcare degree programs via conversion of high-demand courses to online and/or hybrid delivery; 3) Enhance physical/ technology infrastructure to support improved instruction via creation of a state-of-the-art Simulation Laboratory; 3) improved foundational skills through the creation of a Math Resource Center, development of an English for Health Sciences course and expanded language laboratory resources, and 4) Engage in curricular modifications to our Respiratory Care programs to secure accreditation approval by the Committee on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC).

### P031S1500797

### Inter-American University of Puerto Rico Aguadilla Campus, Aguadilla, PR 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Proposed Project:  *Expanding Science & Technology Opportunities in Puerto Rico*(ESTO-PR)

Background/ Service Area: Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Aguadilla Campus (IAUPR-Aguadilla or IAUPR-A) is a private, nonprofit, four-year HSI located in Northwest Puerto Rico. Total enrollment in Fall 2014 was 4,668 (4,357 undergraduates), 99.8 percent Hispanic, and 86 percent Pell grant eligible.  IAUPR-Aguadilla serves residents from Aguadilla and nearby municipalities/ villages, an economically distressed area with high levels of poverty and low educational attainment. The median household income for Aguadilla residents is less than one third that of the United States ($15,847 vs. $53,046) and approximately half live in poverty (49.5 percent).  Additionally, the unemployment rate is alarmingly high (16.8 percent, March 2015).

Institutional Problems: IAUPR-A has an opportunity to capitalize upon its proximity to many large pharmaceutical companies that have a strong foothold in Northwest Puerto Rico. These industries have a pressing need for qualified professionals with science degrees who are trained in industry- standard instrumentation to work in areas of compounding and formulating pharmaceutical products, identifying potential harmful effects of new medical products, treating and properly disposing of pharmaceutical byproducts, and related job positions.  IAUPR-A, however, must overcome numerous problems before it can address pressing student needs and provide access to employment within this thriving industry in our region. Our most urgent problems are centered in two key areas: limited curricular offerings and insufficient/inadequate science laboratories, an essential component for properly educating and training students in science disciplines.

Proposed Activity: In designing strategic and effective solutions to institutional problems, IAUPR-A researched applicable programs at other institutions to identify innovative approaches from which our students can benefit.  As a result of that research, IAUPR-A intends to build on successful models to create up-to-date, relevant, and engaging programs of study through the following initiatives, which make up the proposed Title V Activity.

1. Develop two bachelor’s degree programs (BS in Environmental Science, BS in Toxicology)

2. to expand educational access to academic programs relevant to industries in the region;

3. Expand instructional facilities – create four science labs with appropriate equipment and instrumentation (environmental science, biotechnology, toxicology, and microbiology) to expose students to and effectively train them on use of industry-standard equipment;

4. Enhance academic support services – develop a STEM Support Center to support student success; develop and pilot tutoring services for challenging science/math curricula and skills development practices to overcome science/math skills deficiencies in order to prepare students to complete a postsecondary degree in a high-demand STEM field.

Title V Budget Request: Inter American University of Puerto Rico-Aguadilla requests a five-year budget of $2,624,769 for this Title V project.

### P031S1500143

### Inter-American University of Puerto Rico Fajardo Campus, Fajardo, PR 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Through this project the campus seeks to develop the following activity:  Basic Skills Reform as

a Foundation to Degree Completion: A Holistic Student Support Program in order to address deficiencies in programs that have the greatest impact on the success of underprepared students.  Fajardo Campus (FC) proposes the development of a comprehensive Basic Skills Success Center that will be charged with coordinating the campus developmental program. The project proposes articulation agreements with feeder high schools’ in order to align their Math and English curriculum with college level coursework. Specific problems will be addressed  following recommendations of an internal task force based on best practices, student input, and community needs using the following strategies: (1) developing outreach methods to better prepare high school graduates for college enrollment; (2) addressing identified problems with assessment and curriculum; (3) integrating more comprehensive and responsive student support services with instruction; and (4) developing a tracking and evaluation capability to support continuous improvement of student outcomes. Measurable outcomes: Summative component outcomes include: 1) Training 100 percent of all  Basic  Skills  faculty  in  learning  outcomes,  technology  integration,  and  online  teaching methods; 2) Increasing the number of students who are accurately placed into basic courses to 95 percent; 3) Increasing the success rates in Basic Skills courses by 20 percent; and 4) Increasing the enrollment rate of Basic Skills graduates to college level courses to 70 percent.

Competitive Preference Priority 1: project goal/objective is designed to increase academic success by increasing success rates in developmental courses; and progression from remedial to college courses; establishing a comprehensive student support program that integrates academic support with student services. All project strategies were selected after extensive analysis of what works with high need, at-risk students.

Competitive Preference Priority 2: The project will develop basic skills courses that will be offered fully online as well as supplement campus based courses with research-based hybrid methods of instruction in developmental math and English, in order to increase access and accommodate students that work or are otherwise unable to attend traditional courses and take advantage of face-to-face student services.

### P031S1500043

### University of Puerto Rico at Cayey Cayey, PR 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

The student body of the high schools in the feeder area of the University of Puerto Rico-Cayey (UPRC) are in their vast majority high need students as defined by the U.S. Department of Education.  These high schools often are classified as failing schools under NCLB standards, thus they are in need of academic support. The high-need, low-income Hispanic students entering at the  UPRC from these schools are often academically unsophisticated and present low retention and graduation rates during their college careers.  These students will greatly benefit substantially from tutoring and mentoring delivered by successful upper division students. Besides general problems of adaptation, they encounter specific gatekeeper and bottleneck barriers at various points of their college life, as well as the unavailability of needed courses to complete their degrees. Overcoming these barriers requires targeted support services such as tutoring, mentoring, academic advisement, development of online courses among other support services.  Although some tutoring activity currently exists, it is not nearly enough to meet many major needs and not developed based on formal analysis. We will take lessons from evidence based projects, as well as successful in-house projects to develop a model capable of attending a much larger segment of the at-risk high need student population.

In developing a comprehensive intervention model to service high need students, UPRC proposes to implement a comprehensive academic support program designed to increase the number of high need students enrolled, retained and graduated by the institution as we improve high-need, low-income Hispanic student academic performance through four integrated initiatives:  (1) academic advisement, tutoring and college entrance exam preparation for high need students in selected UPRC feeder high schools; (2) high need freshman summer developmental bridge program; (3) Supplemental Instruction Peer Support (SI) program for high need students; and (4) development of senior year online courses. Through the implementation of these activities UPRC plans to address not only the HSI Title V program absolute priority but also competitive priority 2.

These four activities will be supported by an Academics Analytics Dashboard System (AADS) which will help to analyze student academic performance on real time and track the impact of this and other programs on student academic progress. This assessment tool will guide the development  of a sustainable mentoring program dealing with the human dimension in adapting to college and developing academic sophistication. The four student-centered support activities will work to create an integrated safety net in a Community of Learners at the UPRC. Instructional software, smart classrooms, and other technologies will be incorporated  to increase high need student  performance, especially retention and graduation rates.  Finally, although the faculty has been taking some initiatives to modernize and adapt their pedagogy and the underlying curriculum to meet the needs students, additional efforts are needed. Workshops to improve courses delivery strategies and pedagogy in a manner integrated with the other components of the project and centered on the student will be offered.

### P031S1500194

### Dewey University - Carolina, PR 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Proposed Project:  *Cultivating Access and Success for Hispanics in Puerto Rico*

Background/Service Area: Dewey University is a private, nonprofit, Hispanic-Serving Institution located in Puerto Rico. The Carolina campus of Dewey University (DU-Carolina or DU-C) provides educational opportunities for students in the northeast region of Puerto Rico, primarily economically disadvantaged students.  DU-Carolina’s student population is 100 percent Hispanic, average age of 25, 88 percent work, and 83 percent have an income below $20,000. About 72 percent of DU-C students are enrolled in some evening and/or weekend courses, which reflects our high proportion of working adults, many of whom are blue-collar workers. The six municipalities surrounding our campus, which make up our service area, are economically distressed; the percentage of individuals living in poverty ranges from 29.8 percent to 46.3 percent. The median household income for residents in those cities ranges from $18,497 to $31,261 and the unemployment rate is nearly 10 percent, indicators of the economic hardships experienced by those residents.

Institutional Gaps/Weaknesses/Opportunities:  DU-Carolina has been serving the higher education needs of Hispanics in northeast PR since 1996 and continues to grow as an undergraduate institution. We seek to expand access to new areas with strong potential for growth (e.g., health and business fields) to broaden and maximize opportunities for our students.  We also strive to capitalize on labor market opportunities, such as the current and increasing demand for nurses, particularly professionals with bilingual (English/Spanish) skills. However, DU-C must overcome significant institutional challenges before it can provide more Hispanic students increased access to employment opportunities in high-demand professions. Our problems and weaknesses revolve around the following issues: significant gaps in academic programming, inadequate instructional facilities, and the absence of a systemized academic support structure.

Proposed Activity: In designing an appropriate and effective solution to institutional problems, DU-C researched similar programs at other institutions to identify innovative approaches from which our students can benefit. As a result of that research, DU-C intends to build on successful models to create up-to-date, relevant, and engaging programs of study as we:

· Develop and equip a Simulation Lab, Biology Lab, Chemistry Lab, and Business Lab to engage our students in interactive learning, supported by 21st century instructional tools;

· Develop curricula for a new Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program and two new concentrations for the existing BBA degree program (Finance and Entrepreneurship);

· Adapt select curricula for the three new bachelor’s degree programs for hybrid delivery;

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

· Establish a structured academic support system, including creating a Tutoring Center, to foster success among our students.

### P031S1500028

### SUAGM, Inc. dba Universidad del Turabo - Gurabo, PR 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Activity 1: To establish a Structured Learning Assistance (SLA) Services Program to provide STEM+H students’ academic support in high risk courses to improve academic achievement and increase the retention and graduation rates by a minimum three-five percent, as compared to baseline year data for 2015. The SLA Program will be available to science, technology, engineering, technology (STEM) and health sciences (H) interested students form the UT main campus and its additional locations distributed across the island. SLA will feature weekly study and practice workshops in which students’ master course content to develop and apply specific learning strategies for gatekeeper and bottleneck course, as well as strengthen their study skills to improve performance in the current SLA STEM+H courses and in future courses. SLA workshops will be facilitated by successful undergraduate upper-level students (juniors and seniors), who in collaboration with the professor develop workshop materials for the target SLA courses. SLA tutors will clarify lecture points for students and assist them in understanding the expectations of the professor, while additionally focusing on improved study skills.

The major outcomes expected are: *(i) Students’ success rate for SLA courses will have increased by at least 8 percent as compared with non-SLA courses by 2020. (ii) By the end of the project (2020), student failure rate in the participating SLA courses will have been reduced by at least 50 percent as compared with institutional 2015 baseline data. (iii) By the end of the project (2020), retention and graduation rates of participating students will have increased by three-five percent, when compared to the 2015 institutional baselines.*

Activity 2: To establish a Summer Faculty Immersion Program (SFIP) to develop active learning to increase retention and graduation rates in STEM-H academic programs by a minimum three-five percent, as compared to baseline year data for 2015. The main goal of this activity is to improve the pedagogy skills of STEM+H faculty in innovative active learning in order to strengthen student learning and academic performance that will result in increased retention and graduation rates within the STEM+H student population. Through this activity, UT will create and support teaching communities through a range of faculty development services to facilitate active learning through workshops, seminars, and conferences to strengthen engagement with STEM+H students. UT will support faculty through this activity by guiding the development of the pedagogy and curriculum to promote active learning and student centered pedagogies.

The major outcomes expected are: *By the end of 2020:  (i) a total of 75 faculty members from STEM+H programs will have participated of the SFIP and promoted active learning/student centered pedagogies in the classroom; and (ii) by the end of the project in 2020, retention and graduation rates of participating students will have increased by three-five* percent*, when compared to the 2015 institutional baselines.*

### P031S1500136

### Universidad del Este Carolina, PR 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Universidad del Este is a private, coeducational, degree granting, nonprofit higher education institution serving 7,370 Hispanic students from the municipality of Carolina and surrounding towns in northeastern Puerto Rico. The profile of the student body describes a population that is academically, socially and economically disadvantaged.

The Self-Study process for the 2015 reaccreditation from the Middle States Association Commission on Higher Education, the process to revise the mission statement and the construction of a General Education Component with emphasis in competency development had engaged the constituencies of the institution in profound introspection and rigorous examination of strengths and weaknesses.  During the planning process for this proposal, and upon analysis of previous processes and further documentation and data, the issues of implementing General Education component, faculty development, student services, infrastructure, information and technological resources and retention emerged as areas of major concern.

To contribute to assist Hispanics to expand educational opportunities and improve the academic attainment of Hispanic students by addressing significant problems, an activity comprised of two components was developed: Faculty Development Component and Student Engagement and Retention.  The goals of this proposed project in alignment with institutional goals are:  (1) strengthen faculty development services to contribute to excellence in teaching and student success; (2) expand student support services to promote success and retention; (3) strengthen student learning assessment processes to monitor development of General Education competencies; (4) provide information and technological resources for faculty in support of student learning; and (5) provide physical facilities that promote the successful accomplishment of academic activities.

Sample outcomes are: (1) Gen Ed faculty with increased skills to teach competencies in General Education courses; (2) increased number of student services to promote student engagement and retention; (3) increased assessment of student learning in General Education Component; (4) increased information and  technological resources; and (5) renovation of instructional facilities for faculty and students.  Of the total budget requested, 80 percent will be devoted to the proposed activity and 20 percent for project administration and evaluation. The external evaluator will provide formative and summative evaluation to assess accomplishment of all outcomes with objectivity.  Both competitive priorities have been addressed: (1) Tutoring, counseling, and student service programs designed to improve academic success, including innovative and customized instruction courses designed to help retain students and move the students rapidly into core courses and through program completion; and (2) Projects that are designed to support the development and  implementation of high-quality online or hybrid credit-bearing and accessible  learning opportunities  that  reduce the cost of higher education, reduce time to degree completion, or allow students to progress at their own pace.

### P031S1500208

### American University of Puerto Rico Bayamon, PR 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

American University of Puerto Rico (AUPR) is a private non-profit university located in Bayamón, Puerto Rico with an extension site in the municipality of Manatí. Serving primarily the north-central region of Puerto Rico, AUPR maintains a strong commitment to the low-income, academically underprepared students which comprise the majority of enrollment. While most AUPR students are residents of the Bayamón and Manatí urban zones, we draw students from the entire island of Puerto Rico.  With a population of more than 3.6 million, Puerto Rico is almost entirely (99 percent) Hispanic and as a whole, is characterized by extreme poverty and high unemployment.  The island as a whole has been decimated by the extended “Great Recession” and has been slow to recover. The unemployment rate for Puerto Rico as a whole was 13.7 percent in December 2014, only slightly better than a 17.3 percent earlier in 2014. Our regional economies  have been equally hit with Bayamón reporting 11.2 percent unemployment and Manatí’s rate hitting 14.0 (BLS, Nov. 2014).

AUPR’s students face significant struggles and exhibit all the characteristics of “high need” and the University in turn grapples in trying to meet their many needs in the wake of declining enrollment and fiscal resources. Evidence as to the degree of low foundational skills is shown in assessments of incoming students:  79 percent were not prepared for college-level English; 99.5 percent were not prepared for college math; and 100 percent were not prepared for the freshmen Spanish course. Once enrolled, an all too high number of students fail to successfully progress through the required academic core courses. Failure rates in critical core have reached critically high levels with as many as 62 percent of students failing to master required competencies.  Ill-equipped in the area of instructional technology and with extremely limited instructional resources, our faculty’s struggle is equally great as they attempt to respond to the many needs of AUPR students.  This application has been prepared after a careful analysis of challenges facing AUPR. We submit this proposal for ***Proyecto de Aprendizaje Exitoso (Successful Learning Project).***We request **$2,621,788**over five years to: 1) Revise curriculum for improved instructional quality inclusive of innovative technology utilization, Web-based resources, contextualized basic skills modules, tutoring and Supplemental Instruction; 2) Enhance physical/technology infrastructure to support improved  instruction and online/hybrid course delivery; and 3) Provide faculty development to facilitate curricular improvements.  AUPR will revise a total of 27 core academic and high-risk courses; create technology-rich and interactive smart classrooms and distance learning classrooms; update outdated biology labs, and provide faculty with the tools, resources, and knowledge to implement the various components of this comprehensive project.

### P031S1500084

### Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico - Ponce Ponce, PR 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico-Ponce (PCUPR)’s Title V Project, titled: ***Pathways to Academic Success***(PAS) at PCUPR is designed to increase the students GPAs, retention and satisfaction by providing:

· the  necessary  technological  infrastructure  and  active  learning  environment  at  the University and implementing professional development for the faculty on Universal Design Instruction (UDI). The main objective of UDI is to use inclusive instructional strategies to present multiple digital means of representation, engagement and expression of concepts in courses at the undergraduate level and investigate its impact on the educational outcomes of all the students in the program.

· a mentoring project to share, connect and succeed in College through the Undergraduate Peer Mentoring (UPMe) Program and Academic Mentoring Program for Undergraduate Students (AMUSt) at PCUPR. This mentoring project will also promote involvement in outreach activities to local public and private high schools in order to improve students’ understanding of and accessibility to college programs.

· *UPMe*will match a successful undergraduate student (peer mentor) with those students (mentee) that are enrolled in college for the first time or other undergraduate students that are struggling in college to uplift and guide them through the college environment as a path to success.

· The aim of *AMUSt*is:  (1) to improve learning,  students’ performance and retention that will focus on subjects matter rather than on high-risk students; and (2) to provide guidance in course curriculum sequence and counseling to successfully and promptly graduate with a degree.

· The outreach activities involve:  (1) a *non-residential, no-cost summer internship* - run by undergraduate students in the Project and faculty at PCUPR, which will invite *High School students (maximum of 30 each year)*to the university during June of each year. Students in the internship will participate in: workshops and/or demonstrations that connect science to the real world. Special emphasis in the summer  internship is placed on the development of academic skills in mathematics, science, reading, and writing with a strong focus on math and science. They will also learn about career opportunities in the many and varied fields of science and be involved in resources for Financial Education Literacy. (2) *A Bridge Program*starting in 2016 - that will provide High School students, up to six registered university credits in Math and Chemistry at our institution - paid by PCUPR (*not Federal Funds*).  The two college courses where they will be registered will be supported by the counseling, peer and academic mentoring of this project.

At the end of year five we will disseminate the findings to other institutions of Higher Education and serve as models for teaching with UDI. *Our model will fit all because it will beaccessible to all.*

First year budget:  $525,000

### P031S1500005

### Inter-American University of Puerto Rico – Arecibo Campus, Arecibo, PR 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Inter-American University of Puerto Rico (IAUPR)–Arecibo Campus is a private, non-profit HSI located in an economically deprived region of the Island, serving predominantly a low-income and first generation student population of 4,248 Hispanics.  In August 2014, 48 percent reported family income below $10,000/year and over 87 percent receive financial assistance.  Graduation rate in six years is 31 percent, with a 51 percent dropout at the end of the second year. The project is designed to address this problem by strengthening its student support system and offering timely critical intervention strategies to stop/gap failure to first and second year students.

The project activity will consist of three components. The first two will focus on improving first and second year students persistence and retention by: 1) providing faculty development to incorporate best practices into the core courses. 2) Developing an orientation program to help students integrate into the campus community. 3) Expanding academic support services through advising, mentoring, tutoring and learning communities.  4) Creating active learning spaces to enable students to access personal and academic support. The third component relates to technology retention initiatives, creating:  1) a virtual tutoring center; and 2) A virtual support services community.  It will provide library, academic planning and counseling services.

The  anticipated  outcomes  include  increased  retention  for  all  first  and  second  year  students; increased activities and services, including online support; increased integration of  best practices in core courses through faculty development. Overall, the campus, with increased capacity to provide support services, will help more students to complete satisfactorily their first and second year, providing them with the necessary tools to persist and finish their college education.

### P031S15000048

### University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, TX 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

The School of Nursing (SON) in the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) is a Hispanic-serving Institution that educates culturally inclusive high-quality  nurses to address health disparities in the South Texas geographic area. The UTHSCSA-SON is the only Academic Health Science Center in the South Texas/Border region which comprises nearly 46,000 square miles organized into 38 counties reaching from San Antonio to the U.S.-Mexico border. South Texas demographics, unmet health needs, healthcare workforce shortages and the current expansion of team science and community outreach occurring at UTHSCSA provide a rich context for promoting the enhanced learning and success of under-represented, underprepared students in programs leading to a professional degree.  The SON seeks Title V Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program funding from the United States Department of Education for an innovative student support and faculty development program that will be administered through its newly created Student Success Center.

*Realce: Academic Skills Enhancement  for South Texas Nurses*project provides solutions to two key problems faced by the School of Nursing: 1) improving academic support programs to reverse the recent downward trend of first-time pass rates for SON graduates on the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN®); and 2) the need for improved instruction by novice faculty to address the needs of culturally diverse populations and the need to increase faculty-student  engagement opportunities  – especially for the low-income and first-generation students served by the SON.

If funded, this grant will provide a two-pronged  approach to address these problems by developing and improving academic support programs for at-risk and/or Hispanic learners (Activity I) and by providing narrowly-tailored faculty development  activities and a new undergraduate  research program entitled the *Summer Undergraduate Nursing Research Immersion Experience (SUNRISE)*that will connect Hispanic, first-generation, low-income, and at-risk students with faculty engaged in ground breaking research in the field of nursing (Activity II).

Key measures of success will include:  a) the improvement of the first-time pass rate on the NCLEX-RN examination by SON graduates; b) the increase in research productivity by undergraduate students, and c) the improvement in cultural competence and instructional ability by novice faculty throughout the undergraduate curriculum.  *Realce*(the Spanish word for ‘Enhancement’) serves to enhance the student learning experience with academic supports, enhance faculty competencies in their ability to teach a new generation of diverse students, and ultimately enhance the School of Nursing to better provide for the healthcare needs of South Texas and the Rio Grande Border region.

### P031S15000027

### Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

*Project GRAD: Graduation and Retention through Academic Diversity*is a project led by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) in which a seamless pipeline has been formed to increase the number and proportion of high-need students who are academically prepared for, enroll in, and complete on time college. Project GRAD plans to decrease the amount of remediation students, especially high-need, must take in order to enter into a degree-seeking program, persist, and graduate within six years. Project GRAD will do this with a three pronged approach that includes capacity building through library renovations and increased online instruction, a Summer Prep Academy to provide remedial prep courses to underprepared students to decrease the amount of necessary remedial courses, and by creating a campus of inclusivity focused on family engagement and high-impact practices.

The project will provide needed services and programs aimed at keeping the educational pipeline open to Hispanics, first-generation, low-income, and traditionally underrepresented students who attempt a baccalaureate degree. Services include a remedial Summer Prep Academy and Spanish-speaking orientation sessions, increased internship and undergraduate research opportunities, family engagement events, increased online course options, and a more innovative library space.  Goals of the project include: (1) increasing the number of high-need students who are able to enter TAMUCC college ready; (2) increase the number of high-need students who persist and graduate within six years; (3) increase the amount of online course instruction offered, while also enhancing the professional development for faculty and staff; and (4) renovating space and upgrading technology in the Bell Library.

**Component One** – Summer Prep Academy: The purpose of this component is to provide academic and social support services to high-need students who may need remedial coursework. The students will receive academic prep courses, faculty and peer mentoring, College 101 presentations from campus departments and services, a community service experience (High Impact Practice), free TSI [Texas Success Initiative] assessment retest, optional Spanish-speaking orientation sessions, and early registration capabilities. This component will enable students to start college academically prepared for credit-bearing courses in a tight-knit group of peers with faculty mentors able to provide guidance.  

**Component Two** – Engage and Interact:  The purpose of this component is to provide a myriad of opportunities for educational and social engagement and involvement for students and their families. This includes family events every semester, a centralized database of internships and undergraduate research opportunities, informational events to increase participation in internships and undergraduate research, and increased usage of existing academic resources on campus through early alert tracking and intensive mentorship by both peers and faculty.

**Component Three** – Resources and Development:  The purpose of this component is to provide resources and development to enhance campus practices for high-need students.  This includes faculty and academic advisor development, faculty stipends to increase the incentive to develop and implement online course creation, and renovations and upgrades to the Bell Library to increase usage from students, staff, and faculty.

### P031S15000131

### Howard County Junior College District, Big Spring, TX 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Howard College (HC), which has four campuses in west central Texas, is a public, Hispanic-serving, two-year degree granting college that serves approximately 4,000 students.  HC’s service area is economically-depressed, with the median household income in the 13-county region at just

$47,214, below the average of $51,900 for Texas as a whole, according to the most recent estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The Hispanic population in HC’s 13-county service area is 40.13 percent, well over the percentages for Texas and the United States, but close to Howard College’s rate of 44 percent.  HC caters to local area residents who either cannot afford to leave the area to pursue schooling or who choose to stay in the area because of family or other obligations.

The college has an open admissions policy, which means that many students have deficits in their academic skills when they enroll, calling for additional services to be provided.

The college’s Title V application, Perfecting Achievement in Student Success (PASS) represents as aggressive approach to providing services.  PASS will address several targeted weaknesses at Howard College, including declining retention rates, ineffective systems for collecting and analyzing data, a professional development plan that is inconsistent among the college’s campuses and lack of online degree programs. As a result of a long-term and intensive planning process, HC has identified four opportunities that will be addressed through this project, each with a related component, as follows:

Component 1:  Student resources

Component 2:  Professional Development

Component 3:  Online Degrees

Component 4:  Implementation of a Student Information System

Amount requested:  The total request for this project is $2,625,000 over five years. This represents 39 percent invested in salaries and fringe benefits; 50 percent for equipment; 5 percent for supplies; 3 percent for contractual; 2 percent for travel; and 1 percent for other expenses.

Program Management and Evaluation: Howard College is requesting $673,684 (25 percent) over five years to support the program management dimension of the project. This includes $598,684 for salaries and fringe benefits of the project director and two activity directors; as well as $75,000 for an external evaluator.  One Activity Director will be institutionalized at the end of the project, while the Project Director and second Activity Director are grant-specific positions for the five year period.

Howard College is confident that PASS will enable the institution to put into place new capacity to better serve students, to encourage residents from the region to seek a higher education.

### P031S15000018

### Brookhaven College, Farmers Branch, TX 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Brookhaven College (BC), one of seven colleges in the Dallas County Community College District, serves ethnically diverse, economically disadvantaged and increasingly Hispanic neighborhoods. As a large urban commuter college, BC’s service area includes the communities of North Dallas, Farmers Branch, Addison and Carrollton. Over the past decade the Hispanic student enrollment at Brookhaven College increased from 22 percent to 36 percent (Fall 2014 enrollment

12,284 credit students) to become the predominant ethnic group of students at the college.

Hispanic students are highly motivated to enroll in college and obtain a degree.  However, the challenges (cultural barriers, financial burdens, family responsibilities) often hinder timely college completion for Hispanic students. Currently only three percent of Hispanic students at BC graduate within three years of initial enrollment.  Using evidence-based best practices Brookhaven College proposes an Academic Engagement and Support Center (AESC) that provides student-centered academic advising and comprehensive case management. Services at the AESC will include accessible tutoring, learning support, financial counseling, family advocacy, and referrals for non-academic financial need (child care, housing and social services).  In addition, the proposed Business/Industry Mentoring, Transfer and Placement Center will provide information and linkages for mentorships, internships, experiential learning and university transfer advising, as well as job interviewing and placement.  To improve Hispanic student retention and completion, core/gatekeeper distance learning courses will be Quality Matters (QM) certified, reflecting results of academic research on effective distance learning.  Project RISE, with the assistance of Title V funding, will increase Hispanic student success at Brookhaven College.

Activity:  $2,625,000 over five years

Brookhaven College proposes a single comprehensive Activity:  *Project Rise: Increasing the academic success of Hispanic and low-income students*with four major activity components.

1. Reducing Hispanic student time to completion

2. Improving distance learning pedagogy

3. Strengthening Hispanic student support services

4. Enhancing college-wide access to student information

Project RISE addresses both Title V Competitive Preference Priorities 1 and 2.

1. Programs designed to improve academic success – Activity Components 1 and 2

2. Projects designed to reduce time to completion – Activity Components 2 and 4

### P031S150096

### Texas A& M University – Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Integrating a Culture of Academic and Research Engagement—I-CARE Texas A&M University – Kingsville (TAMUK) is a state supported institution serving an area of rural South Texas bordering Mexico.  The University serves an area approximately the size of West Virginia, ranging from San Antonio to the Mexican border.  The student body is split almost equally between men (53 percent) and women (47 percent).  Seventy-two percent of students are undergraduates. Ethnically, the campus reflects the demographics of the area, with 62 percent of the students being Hispanic, 27 percent (non-Hispanic), and five percent African American.  TAMUK is dedicated to serving an ethnically and culturally diverse population and is committed to its mission of teaching, research, and service in South Texas for the advancement of knowledge and of regional development.

The I-CARE project design is based on the premise that students are our greatest assets.  They come to us with preliminary skill sets and capabilities.  Through the I-CARE program, students will be able to understand their limitations and develop a new vision of who they are and what they can achieve.  The project is composed of three major Goals:

Goal 1 addresses the need to provide career development and career planning which will provide a foundation for students as they move through their academic career and their educational goals at the university.  Goal 2 will increase the number of high-need students who enroll in and successfully complete courses that provide an undergraduate research component.  These courses have been designed to expose students to scholarly and experiential undergraduate research thereby increasing the number of students who are academically prepared for graduate studies. Goal 3 will provide an undergraduate research commons in the university library that will provide a dedicated space for students to participate in undergraduate research.  These goals and proposed activities are in direct alignment with the university mission and vision and the absolute priority for the Title V competition.

Competitive Preference Priority 1 will address:

· Faculty professional development to support innovative learning methods including undergraduate research and experiential learning

· Course redesign to engage students, improve critical skills, retention and graduation

· Infrastructure development to support course redesign, increase visibility of research and experiential learning and improve students’ experiences

· Professional academic advisor development to support student engagement in innovative learning

· Enhance counseling and student guidance services through academic career literacy

· Financial literacy modules to increase student retention and success

Competitive Preference Priority 2 will address:

· Online course redesign that includes research and experiential learning

· E-databases and online journals

· Online career modules and financial literacy modules to support retention and success

### P031S150196

### The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Located in the heart of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the fourth largest metro area in the country and one of the fastest growing with a growing Hispanic population, the University of Texas at Arlington draws most of its undergraduates from the local “metroplex” and surrounding counties.  Reaffirming its commitment to providing access through its 2020 strategic plan, which calls for “Transforming the Student Experience by Enhancing Access and Ensuring Student Success,” the university has made great strides as it moves toward Tier One status (very high research activity) within the state.

With an increasingly diverse student body in a “majority minority” state, UTA students require both academic and personal support as they embark upon their academic careers at a large research oriented university. With a Fall 2014 (overall) enrollment of 33,278 and a global enrollment of approximately 50,000 students (inclusive of online students), a significant proportion of UT Arlington’s students consists of first-generation, low-income and high-need students. UTA’s enrollment includes 8,332 (25 percent) students who are Hispanic (IPEDS) and 10,665 (32 percent) are low-income (UTA DSA, 2014), based on U.S. Department of Education Federal Low-Income Guidelines.

The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) requests for $2,621,654 (over a five-year funding period) to support the success of these high-need students through a grant under the Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program.  Title V funding will create the I.D.E.A.S. Project (Innovation, Diversity, Excellence, Access, and Success) providing flexible and after- hours services to students transitioning to a four-year institution.  The proposed activity coordinates efforts from across the institution; these include University College, Faculty Affairs, Distance Education, the Central Library, University leadership, and the HSI Task Force.

The I.D.E.A.S. Project consists of three main components:

1. *Student Success through I.D.E.A.S. Center*– Creation for a resource hub focused on support services designed to improve and increase undergraduate persistence and graduation rates for high-need students: Hispanic and low income.

2. *Student Success through Efficient use of Technology*- Formation and implementation of digital (online) support services to on-campus and distance education learners

3. *Student Success through Faculty Development*- Implement faculty development designed to increase cultural competence for our high-need students (i.e., Hispanic, low-income students, students in transition).  In addition to support for “gateway” courses as students transition into their major.  The proposed I.D.E.A.S. Project addresses the Title V purpose *to expand educational opportunities for and improve the academic attainment of Hispanic students.*This proposal also addresses both Competitive Preference Priorities.  Priority #1 is clearly addressed through the mix of Student Services Programs designed to improve academic success that include partnerships with University College and other programs in the Library’s Academic Plaza.  Priority #2 is addressed through the development and implementation of high-quality online/hybrid opportunities focus on supporting student success in critical gateway courses for popular majors.

### P031S150141

### Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, TX 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Del Mar College. Del Mar College (DMC) is a two-year institution founded in 1935 and located in Corpus Christi, Texas. The College has an enrollment of over 10,000 students, with a 62 percent enrollment of Hispanic students. It is ranked among the nation’s top three percent of community colleges granting associate degrees to Hispanic Students, according to the national publication *Community College Week*.  Del Mar College has a service area of 7,541 square miles (Connecticut and Rhode Island) along the Gulf Coast. Those counties served are economically challenged with a population of over 500,000, with an estimated Hispanic population of 375,000.

Activity 1: Viking Connect Centers at Del Mar College. To enhance student preparation for the transition to the college, university, or to the workforce, a one-stop shop for students nearing completion of associate, transfer to attain a baccalaureate or certificate degree programs will be developed. These Centers will serve students at risk of failing to complete degree programs. Two Viking Connect Centers will be created on East and West Campus.

Activity 2: Career Readiness Institutes at Del Mar College. To respond to increasing demands for “soft skills” among college graduates, a Career Readiness Institute will provide opportunities for student, faculty, and staff development. A curriculum will be developed and a workshop series will be planned for students. Students completing a minimum of 85 percent of workshops in the series will receive a Title V Career Readiness Institute certificate.  Faculty and staff will be invited to participate in a workshop held during the summer where plans for implementing a career readiness unit into classes will be developed. Three Career Kiosks will be created on three different campuses East, West and Northwest Center.

The project’s overall five-year budget of $2,625,000 focuses on building new capacities and systematic improvements that are sustainable and affordable.

### P031S150025

### The University of Texas of the Permian Basin, Odessa, TX 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

The University of Texas of the Permian Basin (UTPB), located in rural West Texas, is proposing the project, *Linking & Advancing Student Success Opportunities (LASSO)*as a 2015 Title V grant in order to improve the success of its students and to increase efficiencies. Through four goals and related objectives, UTPB proposes one interlinking campus wide activity, including the establishment of a teacher education recruiting and support program, online and evening advising, peer advocates, renovations for a teacher education lab, the addition of an Office of Student Advocacy, and finally, a Faculty to Student mentoring program. The goals of the project are that by 2020:  (1) UTPB will significantly increase its students' academic success as measured by persistence and graduation rates, through increased student access to critical services, such as tutorials, faculty mentoring, academic advising, testing and student advocacy; (2) UTPB will improve its ability to provide online services, such as student advising and advocacy to its past, present and future students; (3) UTPB will significantly improve its rates recruiting, retaining, advising and developing teacher education candidates; and (4) UTPB will implement a rigorous system of monitoring and evaluating progress of the LASSO project, both formative and summative.

Pursuant to these goals, the university will employ a project director who will work in tandem with The Dean for Student Success, The Dean of the College of Education, The Associate Vice President for Student Services, The Director of Housing, The Provost and the President in an intensive, cohesive, university wide effort to unify and strengthen support. The LASSO project is designed to enhance student attainment and to address the fundamental weaknesses identified through the Comprehensive Development Plan in Academic, Fiscal and Institutional Management areas. The overarching theme of the project is to grow the university in quality of services, student academic performance and persistence to graduation.

### P031S150251

### Northeast Texas Community College, Mt. Pleasant, TX 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Institutional Background: Northeast Texas Community College (NTCC) is one of 50 public, open-access community colleges in Texas. The small College is located on 375 acres in a rural setting of gently rolling hills, streams, rivers and farms, in the picturesque and historic Chapel Hill area.  The main NTCC campus is located approximately equidistant between the county seats of the three counties which make up the NTCC district: Daingerfield (Morris County), Mount Pleasant (Titus County); and Pittsburg (Camp County). Over 36 percent of the service area population is minority.

Absolute Priority.  This project meets the Absolute Priority by increasing the number and proportion of high-need students who will complete college on-time.

Competitive Preference Priorities.  This project meets Competitive Preference Priority #1 by providing counseling and student services designed to improve within-term success, retention and degree completion. It meets Competitive Preference Priority #2 by supporting the review and redesign of online courses to increase within-term student success, reduce course repeats and decrease time to degree completion.

Improving Student Success, Completion and Time to Degree.  This Title V project will increase within-term success; first fall to second fall retention, two-year degree completion within 150 percent of normal time and decrease time to degree.

Key Outcomes: 1) Close the achievement gap between Hispanic learners and non-Hispanic learners; 2) increase fall-to-fall retention of Hispanic and other high-need students by 10 percent; increase the number of degrees and certificates awarded to Hispanic and low-income students by 15 percent; 3) increase the proportion of first-time, degree-seeking Hispanic and low-income students who graduate within 150 percent of normal time to completion by 10 percent; 4) increase gateway course success by 10 percent; 5) increase developmental course success rates by 10 percent; and 6) improve the quality of online courses and student success rates in online courses.

Student Body Characteristics

Fall 2014 Headcount Enrollment:  Undergraduate:  3,227. White-54.8 percent; Hispanic/Latino-25.8 percent; Black or African American-13.0 percent; Race/Ethnicity Unknown-0.2 percent; Asian-0.7 percent; American Indian or Alaska Native-0.6 percent; Native Hawaiian-0.1; Two or More Races-2.6 percent; Non-Resident Alien: 1.6 percent.

Faculty Characteristics:  Faculty to credit student ratio: 1: 23. Full-time: 70; Part-time: 125.

Five-Year Project Budget:  $2,625,000.

### P031S150081

### Northwest Vista College, San Antonio, TX 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Northwest Vista College (NVC) is a two-year institution serving the rapidly growing and predominately Hispanic northwest side of San Antonio, Texas.  NVC offers academic and technical courses to 15,797 students pursuing associates degrees, certificates, and transfer credit. Approximately 60 percent of these students are Hispanic.

The mission of Northwest Vista is to create opportunities for success by offering quality academic, technical and life-long learning experiences to its diverse communities in a collaborative, student-centered, data-informed and shared leadership environment.

Currently math forms the largest obstacle to student success, persistence and completion.  NVC proposes to overcome this barrier by implementing *Project Math Paths (PMP)*as a five-year,

$2,282,901 project designed to improve our three year graduation rate by correctly welcoming, advising, placing, and accelerating students through the math core and eliminating developmental math hours. Project Math Paths uses a two-pronged systemic approach to address the Absolute Priority and the two Competitive Priorities:

1.) Integration of cross college resources to increase graduation and improve math placement; and

2.) A fundamental shift away from college algebra to include the mathematics of statistics and liberal arts to increase graduation.

Goals for Project Math Paths include:

Goal 1:  Implement intrusive advising for all FTIC students through Vista Central - One Stop

Shop;

Goal 2:  Accelerate the Developmental Math Sequence and advise into optimal college level math courses;

Goal 3:  Maximize student success by dramatically increasing optimal math placement, including

Math 1414, College Algebra for STEM majors;

Goal 4:  Reduce time needed and facilitate student enrollment through the creation of Vista Central - One Stop Shop with imbedded support services to facilitate the enrollment process, monitor and advise student progress, and;

Goal 5:  Increase student enrollment, retention and core math completion.

Northwest Vista has committed the resources of its faculty, administration, staff, and facilities to the success of this project. The activities proposed in this grant are fully aligned with the college’s Strategic Plan and our six main goals of Completion, Learning and Sustainability, Strategic Enrollment Management, Institutional Planning and Effectiveness, and forming Strategic Partnerships.

### P031S150129

### San Antonio College, San Antonio, TX 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

SAC – one of the largest community colleges in Texas – educates approximately 18,000 students in San Antonio, Texas, the nation’s seventh-largest city located 150 miles north of the U.S./Mexico border. In San Antonio, more than 60 percent of all 1.6 million residents are Hispanic, and 75 percent of all residents 25 and older have less than a bachelor’s degree. In the neighborhoods that surround our campus, one-third to one-half of all families have incomes below poverty.

At least half of all SAC students are Hispanic, low-income and/or first-generation, and

11 percent graduate within three years because of the many barriers they face, perpetuating low educational attainment and poverty in San Antonio. The *Puentes*project will help reverse this trend by significantly increasing our institution’s capacity to provide the guidance, engagement and academic support Hispanic and low-income students need to succeed in higher education.  Funding will allow SAC to:

1. Increase the availability of enrollment assistance, the quality and reach of SAC’s New Student Orientation (NSO) program, the availability of academic advising and access to tutoring support college-wide.

2. Offer accelerated remedial education options to at least 500 additional students each year, and increases the availability of online learning, tutoring and advising resources.

3. Modernize teaching and learning in STEM classrooms and labs that at least half of all students encounter while attending SAC.

*Puentes*will serve as a catalyst for long-term improvements that will address the disproportionately low rates at which Hispanic and other low-income students achieve, persist and succeed at SAC. The innovative strategies we employ in our Activity Components will directly address our institution’s weaknesses and will pave the way for systemic changes that will enable SAC to achieve its institutional goals and objectives.  Every *Puentes*strategy is designed to help our majority underrepresented students successfully “bridge” the academic and cultural divide from enrollment to remedial education to college-level study and eventual graduation and transfer. Our Implementation Strategies meet the requirements of the Absolute Priority for the Title V program and both Competitive Preference Priorities.

By the end of the project: 1) at least 62 percent of all SAC full-time, first-time-in-college students (FTICs) will remain enrolled after their first year; 2) at least 79 percent of all students will pass courses with a “C” or better; 3) at least 15 percent of all students will be graduating from SAC within three years, and at least 23 percent will be transferring to Texas public senior institutions within six years; and 4) at least 97 percent of all students will be retained within each semester.

### P031S150029

### Amarillo College, San Amarillo, TX 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Amarillo College (AC), Amarillo, Texas, a comprehensive, two-year public community college, lies in the heart of the Texas Panhandle and serves a 9,363 square-mile service area, with most of its 300,000 residents concentrated around Amarillo, the largest city in a 120-mile radius. Accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and governed by a Board of Regents, AC offers 140 developmental, transfer-oriented, and technical programs to over 10,000 credit students.  Mirroring the demographics of our area, 4,992 of Fall 2014 students were Hispanic (38 percent). With the Hispanic proportion of the area population projected to reach nearly 49 percent by 2050, major strides must be made to include them in the emerging economy. Yet, service area degree attainment for Hispanics remains historically low at only seven percent for a Bachelor’s degree or above—less than a third of the rate for all residents (21 percent).

Student Characteristics:  Typical AC students attend part-time (70 percent) while they juggle work (81 percent) responsibilities. Interest in online and hybrid courses continues to grow with 38 percent of students taking at least one online course in Fall 2014.

Significant Problems: Retention and graduation rates are unacceptably low for the predominantly high-need students AC serves.  Our analysis indicates that a major stumbling block to student success lies in the quality of our developmental reading, writing, and math; technical core; and gateway college-level courses. Failure rates in these courses range from 25-60 percent, pointing to high percentages of students whose progress is delayed and whose educational costs climb higher with each additional course they must retake. The following weaknesses in our target courses inhibit student success and must be addressed: teaching methods remain static, with lecture still the primary teaching method; instruction does not promote interaction and collaboration; and use of technologies in course design is limited. A further obstacle to AC student persistence and graduation is AC’s advising system, which is ill-designed and under-resourced to address the changing needs of our students. Advisors have inadequate access to critical student information. Furthermore, advising for foundational students—those who perhaps need the most support and guidance as they navigate AC’s developmental education sequence—is fragmented, leading to confusion and frustration rather than supporting their success.

Proposed Solution: *On Time Completion: Creating a Pathway for Student Success.*AC proposes to: (1) invigorate developmental education, technical core, and high-risk gateway courses by re-designing the curricula based on best practices for active learning and learner- centered strategies supported by faculty professional development, multi-media classrooms, and collaborative workstations; (2) centralize foundational advising and establish a Foundational Advising Center; (3) develop support services—Summer Bridge and Rapid Review placement testing preparation sessions—to support the success of foundational students; and (4) develop data-driven advising using high-powered data analytic tools that offer advisors and faculty user-friendly dashboard access to data.

### P031S150040

### College of the Mainland, Texas City, TX 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Goals: College of the Mainland (COM) will create systemic change to increase the graduation and retention rates of Hispanic and low income students, and in doing so will impact the rates of all students.  Our overall approach will be to use new programs, processes and technology to enable better communication and increase collaboration among advisors in Student Services, faculty in Instruction and students so that obstacles on the students’ pathway can be addressed as early as possible in the their career at COM. We will clear the pathway to student success by working towards two goals.  The first is to develop processes and procedures to ensure that students have *a successful start*to their college experience by contacting students early in their college experience and staying in contact with them, by increasing outreach about financial aid and by offering training in financial literacy.   The second goal is to eliminate obstacles from the student’s pathway *as they proceed*on their academic journey, through a variety of programs and services related to proactive advisement, emphasizing goal planning and on-going contact.

Expected Outcomes:  Student Services and Instruction will work together to clear the pathway to student success. By 2020, our objectives are to increase COM’s three year graduation rates by 10 percent and our fall to fall retention rates by 11 percent, as well as increase the percentage of students applying for financial aid by 16 percent and students receiving financial aid by 11 percent.

Contributions To Practice:  Fulfilling our goals will support the research on pathways (CCRC,

2015) which points to increased student success resulting from a comprehensive redesign of the student experience, with a key element being coordination between Student Services and Instruction.

### P031S150116

### South Plains College, Levelland, TX 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

SOUTH PLAINS COLLEGE (SPC) is a public, open-door community college and Hispanic-Serving Institution located 350 miles due west of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The college provides 28 Associate Degree programs and related Certificate programs from its main campus in Levelland, two extension centers in Lubbock and a center in Plainview.  More than 9,600 students enroll each semester.  Overall, 79 percent of students are first-generation college, 40 percent Hispanic, and 54 percent economically disadvantaged.  Among students enrolled at the Plainview Center, an hour north of Levelland, the percentages are considerably higher:  Hispanic (78 percent), low-income (84 percent), and first-generation college student (87 percent). (SPC Institutional Research and Reports, 2015).

SERVICE AREA: South Plains College is the *only*community college serving a vast 15-county service area of more than 13,000 square miles in west Texas. The 2013 population is estimated at

432,857 and includes 168,814 Hispanic residents (39 percent of the population).  Surrounding rural counties are now close to being a majority minority, with a 50 percent Hispanic population (ACS, ’13).

CHALLENGES AND CONSTRAINTS: Faltering enrollment and drastically reduced state appropriations have diminished the college’s ability to address key problems and opportunities:  (1) Gaps in SPC’s Technical program offerings are hindering students’ access to high demand careers; (2) too many Technical students are struggling academically and failing to complete an Associate Degree; and (3) current professional development is weak in providing training that could help Technical faculty members improve student engagement in the learning process and help students persist to college completion.

PROJECT ACTIVITIES: To address these institutional problems and challenges, South Plains

College requests Title V funds to help support the following development activities:

· Improve student *access*by expanding the current Diesel Technology program to include a high demand Heavy Equipment Technician specialty and extending the program to the Plainview Center, which enrolls a large proportion of Hispanic and low-income students;

· Further improve access by adding a new Culinary Arts program to address strong student interest and job demand in the region;

· Improve *success*in Associate Degree completions, particularly among Hispanic and low- income Technical students, by incorporating active learning strategies (with an emphasis on collaborative and culturally responsive learning) into the Technical curriculum and providing new online remedial options and improved tutoring for Technical students.

· Strengthen professional development for Technical faculty by emphasizing innovative, active learning strategies and equipping classrooms to support technology-rich instruction in each of the five Technical departments.

### P031S150250

### Big Bend Community College, Moses Lake, WA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Big Bend Community College (BBCC) (Moses Lake, Washington) serves a rural, two-county (4,601 square mile, population 109,004) area of South Central Washington characterized by poverty (21 percent, 31 percent for Hispanic) and low educational attainment (15 percent adult baccalaureate attainment, five percent for Hispanic adults). Unlike other parts of the state, the area’s economy is agriculturally-driven.  Thanks to our region’s rich soil, Washington ranks first nationally in production of apples, hops, cherries, pears, and concord grapes; it is also the nation’s second largest producer of canola.

For generations, in fact, seasonal farm work has drawn waves of migrants to the area, with thousands of Hispanic families settling here permanently.  Hispanic residents comprise 42 percent of the area’s population (+53 percent since 2000).  The manual labor most residents depend upon, however, is backbreaking, low-paying work.  Moreover, as precision agriculture – the main economic driver in our region – increasingly depends on technology and mechanization to maximize production and profits, agricultural laborers stand to lose access even to seasonal jobs.  Among the latest and most exciting technologies to be employed by the precision agriculture industry are Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) – or “drones.”  In 2015 the FAA released proposed regulations for commercial usage of drones, which can be employed for such tasks as field inspection, spot spraying, and infrared imaging to monitor crop health.  Commercial drones are already being tested on regional canola farms.  It is estimated that 80 percent of commercial UAV operations will be in agriculture, with the industry bringing over 10,000 jobs and $7.8 billion in revenue to the state in the next decade.

BBCC proposes to prepare Hispanic, low income students for these well-paying opportunities (paying up to $75,000 annually).  Located next to the Grant County International Airport and home to successful flight training programs, BBCC is a natural fit for UAV-related programs. However, we must first address a host of capacity challenges.  Since 2009/2012, Professional/ Technical program headcount has risen nine percent, with a 31 percent increase in the number of Hispanic students, pressing outdated program facilities beyond capacity.  Moreover, though they represent 34 percent of Professional/ Technical enrollment, Hispanic students’ retention, graduation, and transfer rates in these programs lag below those of the overall population.  Our advising system is not meeting the guidance needs of Hispanic high-need students.

BBCC proposes *New Opportunities in Aviation,*an activity to increase postsecondary access and enrollment while improving high-need student persistence, graduation, and goal completion. We will develop innovative certificate and associate of applied science (AAS) options in Mechatronics (Unmanned Aircraft Technology Management) and Unmanned Aerial Systems Operations, with curricula designed for blended [hybrid] delivery – online didactic content with on-campus activities and labs *(Competitive Preference Priority 2).*Hands-on activities will be supported by new classroom and lab facilities in 5,506 square feet of renovated space in the hangar housing Aviation programs.  A new advising system for Professional/Technical programs, to include resources for transfer and career as well as academic advising, will be supported by online “dashboard” access to critical student data *(Competitive Preference Priority 1).*

### P031S150213

### Columbia Basin College Pasco, TX 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Columbia Basin College (CBC) is a public, regionally accredited, comprehensive, Hispanic-serving community college located in southeast Washington state.  As an *open door community college*, Columbia Basin College provides academic, transfer, and technical degrees along with extensive technical career development, ESL and GED preparation, developmental education, certificates, and select bachelor’s degrees. CBC serves more than 11,500 students annually (33.3 percent Hispanic) who come primarily from Franklin and Benton counties.  Hispanics comprise 20 percent of the Benton County population and 51.4 percent of Franklin County.  Franklin County residents especially experience high rates of poverty and low educational attainment.

These area socioeconomic challenges directly impact our students.  Of the 5,328 students enrolled in Fall 2014, most face significant challenges to postsecondary success, persistence, and graduation: 43.3 percent are first generation college students, 78.8 percent are under-prepared for college coursework in at least one area, and 48.8 percent are low-income (citations for all data appear in the project narrative).  Required to complete and succeed in as many as four quarters of developmental courses before enrolling in gateway freshman-level courses, too many students languish and fail at the pre-college level.  More than half of CBC students fail their developmental courses, and many leave before completing even their first year of college, let alone graduating. Only 15 percent of the most underprepared students (testing into developmental math, reading, and English) persist to graduation.

In response to these problems and to substantially increase student academic success and graduation, Columbia Basin College proposes the cutting edge **Student Transitions and Achievement (STAA**) project. The curricular element of our activity focuses on redesigning developmental math and key gateway courses that directly impact more than 80 percent of CBC students to incorporate student-centered strategies to accelerate student progress and increase success.  Professional development utilizing innovative streamlined technology and a new expanded Math Center will support and enhance these curricular strategies.

The second element of the activity calls for investing in retention and data analytics software to improve accurate placement of entering students and to support a robust Early Alert and intrusive advising system to be developed by this project. Other strategies to improve academic success include designing summer bridge intensives in math to accelerate incoming students through developmental math courses.  Project STAA also develops Learning Communities linked to a freshman college success course to increase student success.  High-need students need these services and support to successfully navigate the many challenges that threaten their persistence to graduation.

### P031S150054

### Heritage University, Toppenish, WA 

### Individual Development Grant

**ABSTRACT**

Heritage University, a private, four-year Hispanic-Serving Institution located in Toppenish, Washington, was founded in 1982 to extend access to higher education to this low-income, high minority, and under-served area of Washington State.  Many area residents have low levels of income and education, and these characteristics are shared by Heritage University’s students, more than half of whom (60 percent) are Hispanic (versus 47 percent for the county) and another six percent Native Americans (equals six percent for the county).  Overall; only 10 percent of Heritage U.S. students were enrolled in STEM fields.  Only nine percent of Hispanic students declared a STEM major in fall 2014. More concerning is that only three percent of Hispanic students in fall 2014 majored in Health fields. Among Native American students: 18 percent majored in STEM and one percent in Health fields.  Resource constraints have prevented our expanding of curricula mainly in the STEM and Health fields. However, these professional technical fields offer tremendous opportunity:  skilled STEM graduates are needed for opportunities at the nearby Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and community nurses in the low-income Hispanic and Native American communities.  Between 2010 and 2020 the overall employment in STEM occupations in the nation will increase by 17 percent, but there are not enough students pursuing degrees and careers in STEM fields.  Yakima County was ranked the 8th fattest city in the US in 2008 and from 2009-2011; infant mortality was 5.1/thousand live births versus 4.6 for the State.  Native American infant mortality is over twice that of Whites.  The 2010 Affordable Care Act requires highly trained nursing professionals. This, with the shift in health care needs from acute to chronic conditions, patient needs are now more complex requiring nurses with competencies in community health.  To address these priorities, Heritage University must build capacity in preparation of Hispanic and other low-income students to enter high-demand STEM and health professions to extend access, opportunity, and greater community service.  These efforts support significant enrollment based revenue growth to sustain new programs and services in the coming years.

We propose to develop the Associate of Arts in Pre-Engineering, the Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry, the Community Health and GIS Certificate Programs, Health Information Technology integration into five blended, online BSN Clinical Lab courses, three discipline specific Bioinformatics courses for Biochemistry, Science and Computer Science, and Nursing students, and innovative student academic services for STEM and Health majors. Equipping classrooms and labs for effective instruction and integration of information technology into courses are integral to the project and detailed in the proposal that follows.

Heritage proposes ongoing evaluation to support achievement of project objectives and Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) provisions that demonstrate accountability and continuous improvement.  Evaluation will produce results for each of the Department of Education’s Key Performance Measures:  enrollment, retention, and graduation rates which we will collect and report as requested during and after funding.

02/09/2016

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