Strengthening Predominantly Black Institutions

(Competitive Grants) Program

FY 2009 Project Abstracts

(CLICK ON PAGE NUMBER TO VIEW ABSTRACT)

BLOOMFIELD COLLEGE 1

COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF PHILADELPHIA 2

ESSEX COUNTY COLLEGE 3

MALCOLM X COLLEGE 4

MISSISSIPPI DELTA COMMUNITY COLLEGE 5

PRAIRIE STATE COLLEGE 6

SOJOURNER-DOUGLASS COLLEGE 7

TECHNICAL COLLEGE OF THE LOWCOUNTRY 8

WEST LOS ANGELES COLLEGE 9

YORK COLLEGE 10
Page | 1

BLOOMFIELD COLLEGE

PR Award Number: P382A090011

Project Director's Name: Marion Terenzio

State: New Jersey

Telephone Number: (973) 748-9000

E-mail Address: marion_terenzio@bloomfield.edu

Bloomfield College is a fully accredited, four-year, liberal arts institution that has a total undergraduate 

enrollment of 2,524 students including 50.8 percent who are African-American, of these 58 percent are 

low-income or first-generation students and 14.6 percent are African-American males. The Bloomfield 

College project will implement activities in support of the following goals and objectives:

1. Establish a state-of-the art Teacher Preparation (TePrep) Resource Center by June, 2010 to 

increase enrollments. At least 115 teacher preparation students including at least 55 AfricanAmerican students and other disadvantage students will demonstrate knowledge of the purposes 

and uses of the Teacher Preparation Resource Center.

2. Increase the weekly and biweekly tutoring workshops for at least 30 STEM/TePrep students, 

including at least 10 African-American students as well as other students, so that by September 

2010 the percent of African-American STEM/TePrep students with grade point averages greater 

than or equal to 2.75 will increase from 31 percent to at least 50 percent.

3. Increase the weekly and biweekly tutoring sessions in subject areas for at least 75 nonSTEM/TePrep students, including at least 50 African-American students as well as other 

disadvantaged students, so that by September 2010 the percent of African-American NonStem/TePrep students with grade point averages greater than or equal to 2.75 will increase from 

56 percent to at least 66 percent.

4. Provide global language instruction to at least 30 teacher preparation students including 20 

African-American students so that by September 2010 at least 20 teacher preparation students 

including at least 15 African-American students will have passed the CLEP exam in a global 

language and will have earned three college credits. 

5. Provide tutoring and mentoring so that by the summer of 2010, at least 20 additional AfricanAmerican males will have declared themselves as TePrep or health education majors.

6. Provide tutoring and mentoring so that by the September 2010 at least 80 percent of students in a 

group of 30 African-American male students will remain in college.

The above goals and objectives relate directly to strengthening Bloomfield College, its teacher 

preparation program and the needs of Bloomfield College‟s African-American and disadvantaged 

students.
Page | 2

COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF PHILADELPHIA

PR Award Number: P382A090003

Project Director's Name: Samuel Hirsch

State: Pennsylvania

Telephone Number: (215) 751-8491

E-mail Address: shirsch@ccp.edu

The Community College of Philadelphia (the College) is an open-access associate degree-granting 

institution with an enrollment of almost 28,000 degree-seeking students. It is the second largest 

institution of higher education in Philadelphia and the sixth largest in Pennsylvania. With an AfricanAmerican student population of over 51 percent, the College is the largest single point of access into 

higher education in Pennsylvania for minorities. At the College, 70 percent of full-time students and 60 

percent of part-time students received financial aid. Of all the students who apply for financial aid, 64 

percent qualify for need-based aid, and 56 percent of the student population is offered some form of need 

based aid. 

The Predominantly Black Institutions Program will allow the College to focus on improving the 

educational outcomes of African-American male students through the creation of the Center for Male 

Engagement (CME) at the Community College of Philadelphia. The CME will provide a community 

where males are supported by peers and mentors, and encouraged to take advantage of the myriad 

academic and social opportunities in their new college environment. Through this grant, the CME will 

target 300 full-time, first-time-in-college African-American male students and provide them with support 

coaches, counseling, academic support, life skills workshops, cultural enrichment activities and financial 

assistance as needed. Additionally, a Summer Enrichment Program will be offered in the summer of 

2010 for 60 prospective male students to prepare them for college success and provide scholarships. The 

goals of the program are:

 To achieve higher levels of academic performance and persistence rates of African-American 

male members of the Center of Male Engagement at the Community College of Philadelphia as 

compared to those of comparable non-member African-American males. 

 To increase student engagement and social responsibility of African-American male students at 

the Community College of Philadelphia.

 To provide a summer enrichment program for African-American males who are recent high 

school graduates entering college for the first time in 2010.

Key measures of success for this program include:

1. increases in the fall-to-spring and fall-to-fall persistence rate, and percent passing grades in 

college-designated „gatekeeper‟ courses for African-American males;

2. increase in life skills among African-American male members of the CME; and

3. decrease in the percentage of African-American males facing adverse action through the 

College‟s judicial process.

An external evaluation will assist with measuring these outcomes, as well as provide a formative and 

summative evaluation of the success of the entire program. At the completion of the project, the College 

will disseminate key outcomes of the program that contributed to the success of male students at the 

College through conference presentations, literary articles and presentations to College faculty and staff.
Page | 3

ESSEX COUNTY COLLEGE

PR Award Number: P382A090004 

Project Director's Name: Neil De Haan

State: New Jersey

Telephone Number: (973) 877-3560 

E-mail Address: ndehaanj@essex.edu

Essex County College (ECC) in Newark, New Jersey, proposes a project that will establish a learning 

environment that will attract and help Black American males become confident, productive, stay in school 

and achieve their academic and career goals for the future. Named the “Stay-in-Step Academy” (SISA), 

the project will address the needs of the Black American males enrolled at the college, which is a lifeline 

to poor urban residents in Essex County, New Jersey. The four urban areas targeted for the proposed 

program (i.e., East Orange, Irvington, Newark, and Orange) represent 55 percent of the county‟s 

population and 85 percent of its Black population. Key social indicators for this service area reveal a 

preponderance of factors with negative implications for the population‟s academic achievement. 

The project will orientate and link 300 Black American males who are first-time students to the academic 

programs, tutoring, student advisors, mentoring, career opportunities, and other support services available 

at ECC and facilitate and encourage their use. By the end of the project, the “Stay-in-Step Academy” will 

enhance the college experience of program participants and maintain the cohesiveness and effectiveness 

of the cohort that is being served by this grant from the Predominately Black Institutions (PBI) program. 

The project expects to increase success rates in remedial math for participants from 52 percent to 65 

percent, in remedial English from 73 percent to 80 percent, and in key major-related courses from 68 

percent to 75 percent, by ensuring participation in workshops and tutorial programs. The project‟s 

objective is also to increase the fall-to-spring retention rate for PBI participants from 73 percent to 80 

percent and the fall-to-fall retention of the PBI participants from a baseline of 50 percent to 60 percent. A 

comprehensive evaluation by Rutgers University will document lessons learned and best practices that 

will be sustained after the conclusion of the project.
Page | 4

MALCOLM X COLLEGE

PR Award Number: P382A090026 

Project Director's Name: Ghingo Brooks 

State: Illinois

Telephone Number: (312) 850-7031 

E-mail Address: gbrooks@ccc.edu

Malcolm X College is one of the seven colleges located within the city limits of Chicago in Community 

College District 508, known as the City Colleges of Chicago (CCC). CCC is a comprehensive, public 

community college system dedicated to serving the educational needs of Chicago‟s diverse population. 

Located on the West Side of Chicago, Malcolm X College provides affordable education in transfer and 

career-oriented programs designed to enhance the quality of life of an economically, educationally, 

culturally, and socially diverse community. 

Malcolm X will implement two interrelated projects:

1. the Nursing Simulation Learning Center, designed to increase the success and persistence rates of 

students enrolling in the College‟s Nursing Program; and

2. the provision of professional development to train Nursing faculty to incorporate 

virtual/simulated clinical experiences into their instruction.

Project activities have been designed to address the following objectives:

 enrich lab capabilities through the construction of a state-of–the-art Nursing virtual skills lab;

 train Nursing faculty and staff to integrate enhanced lab experiences into their teaching;

 train IT staff to operate equipment in the virtual laboratory;

 supplement hospital-based clinical hours;

 improve student pass rates on board certification examinations; and

 expand curriculum/programmatic initiatives in the nursing program and adherence to 

accreditation curriculum guides and outlines.
Page | 5

MISSISSIPPI DELTA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

PR Award Number: P382A090018 

Project Director's Name: John Williams 

State: Mississippi

Telephone Number: (662) 246-6481 

E-mail Address: jewilliams@msdelta.edu

Mississippi Delta Community College (MDCC), founded in 1926 is a two-year public, rural, residential 

and commuter community college, with a fall 2008 enrollment of 3,186 students. The seven-county 

primary service area, which MDCC serves, documents that two-thirds of its population is identified as 

living at the 200 percent poverty level and over one-third have an annual incomes of less than $8,794. 

Unemployment levels run over 200 percent above other parts of the state and nation. 

MDCC will assess, develop, and implement educational support and mentoring strategies to consistently 

increase the persistence rate among African-American males especially in the field of mathematics. 

PATHMAKERS, a new program at MDCC, will be established to meet student needs in the following 

areas: 

 financial aid;

 mathematics curriculum and instruction;

 academic support services; and

 student social services.

The program activities are designed to meet the following objectives:

1. a minimum of 100 full-time African-American males will be selected to participate in the 

PATHMAKERS of MDCC Program with 90 percent successfully completing the semester;

2. MDCC persistence rate among African-American males will increase from the current rate of 16 

percent to a rate of 33 percent;

3. increase in the course completion rates and average grades earned in all levels of mathematics at 

MDCC among African-American males from the current 33 percent rate to a 46 percent rate;

4. increase the utilization by African-American males in academic counseling by five percent and 

the College Learning Center by two percent; 

5. increase the participation in social counseling by over 100 percent; 

6. increase institutional enrollment of African-American males by two percent; 

7. provide a dedicated learning and study space nurtured with access to high technology equipment 

software, and supplies; and

8. develop and implement a summer pre-college program for African-American males to support 

and promote a more seamless transition to the college environment.
Page | 6

PRAIRIE STATE COLLEGE

PR Award Number: P382A090017 

Project Director's Name: Cheryl Tolish 

State: Illinois

Telephone Number: (708) 709-7925 

E-mail Address: ctolish@prairiesta.edu

Prairie State College (PSC) is a comprehensive community college in Chicago‟s south suburbs, that 

serves the most geographically, socio-economically, and racially diverse population of all Illinois 

community colleges (Illinois Community College Board Data and Characteristics of the Illinois Public 

Community college System, 2007). The PSC student body is over 50 percent African-American, a 

population that struggles more to enroll, persist, and complete their studies when compared to other 

student populations. The program at PSC will achieve the following goals:

 Increase the college-going rate of African-American males in the district; and

 Increase the persistence rates of African-American males at PSC.

To achieve the first goals, PSC will partner with three, predominantly African-American high schools to 

create a Pipeline to College program. High school students will be invited to participate in a college 

awareness/readiness program that will increase college familiarity for both the students and their families, 

offer career exploration services, and provide positive educational and professional role models. While, 

students in the senior class will create the cohort for tracking and accounting of program objectives, a 30 

percent increase in the number of African-American males who choose to enroll at PSC is anticipated.

To achieve the second goal, Prairie State will establish a holistic program to address the academic, social, 

and personal needs of its African-American male students. During 2009, strategic academic advisers will 

place a cohort of African-American males with fewer than 15 credit hours in a college success seminar 

that will focus on the unique challenges facing them. Students will have access to tutoring, advising, and 

early alert services in a new Learning Achievement Center. Students will also participate in cultural 

experiences, leadership workshops, career exploration, and college tours. The cohort persistence rates 

will be tracked, both from fall-to-spring and from fall-to-fall, and in each case, an increase of 15 percent 

of participating students will be retained.
Page | 7

SOJOURNER-DOUGLASS COLLEGE

PR Award Number: P382A090014 

Project Director's Name: Alice Thomas 

State: Maryland

Telephone Number: (410) 276-1844 

E-mail Address: athomas@host.sdu.edu

Sojourner-Douglass College (S-DC) will develop a new project entitled “Developing the BSN 

Infrastructure by Enhancing Science and Distance Learning,” to establish the science foundation needed 

to successfully launch the Bachelor‟s in Science Nursing (BSN) program. S-DC is Maryland‟s only 

private, nonprofit, four-year, minority-serving institution. The college‟s main campus is in East 

Baltimore, Maryland, with three other campuses located in Annapolis, Cambridge, and Salisbury, 

Maryland. 

The S-DC project has four main goals:

1. Increase science courses to meet the needs of the new BSN program and future STEM programs.

2. Increase BSN nursing student enrollment and success.

3. Increase student success in science courses required for the LPN (licensed practical nursing) and 

BSN programs.

4. Strengthen the S-DC distance learning infrastructure to include a course/learning management 

system (Blackboard) and educational technology support.

The project meets the PBI objectives of:

 increasing the number of full-time, degree-seeking undergraduates enrolling at a PBI, and

 increasing the persistence rate for students enrolled at a PBI.

The S-DC program will expand opportunities in nursing education to include preparation as registered 

nurses (RNs). It will also increase the success of students in core science courses needed for the LPN and 

BSN programs by establishing two new science courses, Chemistry and Microbiology, and to new labs, 

one for Chemistry and on “swing” lab for Biology, Anatomy and Physiology and Microbiology, at the 

main S-DC campus. S-DC currently does not offer Chemistry or Microbiology and does not have fully 

functional science labs that can accommodate each of these core science courses required for nursing 

students.

In addition to establishing new science courses and labs, the project offers tutoring support to nursing 

students to ensure their success and increase their persistence. Cumulative average science scores on the 

nursing entrance exam should be approximately 65 percent, but the most recent exam reflects cumulative 

science scores of 50 percent. Among the three sciences tested, chemistry is the most difficult for students 

with an average score of 47 percent. 

The S-DC project aligns with the Maryland Hospital Association‟s 2007 goal to double the number of 

graduates from associates and baccalaureate nursing programs in Maryland. The project‟s broader impact 

is that it addresses the critical nursing shortage faced by the state and the nation by preparing additional 

registered nurses with a strong science foundation.
Page | 8

TECHNICAL COLLEGE OF THE LOWCOUNTRY

PR Award Number: P382A090008 

Project Director's Name: Nancy Weber

State: South Carolina 

Telephone Number: (843) 525-8226 

E-mail Address: nweber@tcl.edu

The Technical College of the Lowcountry will establish Project “Improving Basic, Advanced, and 

Applied Mathematics (BAAM) Skills of African-American Students” to strengthen the institution‟s 

capacity to achieve the following project goals:

 Improve the college‟s capacity to serve African-American students by providing technology and 

services to increase success in developmental and college-level mathematics;

 Prepare African-American transfer students for success in advanced applied mathematics;

 Use measurement devices, precision instrumentation, and electronic training equipment to 

develop basic, applied mathematical as skills used in industrial and engineering technologies; and

 Provide standard multimedia capabilities in classrooms to increase faculty understand and use of 

instructional technologies. 

To support these goals, enhanced technology such as new computers and specific mathematics software 

for both developmental/basic and advanced math skills will be placed in labs for instructional and 

individual student use. The software applications will expose students to multiple delivery options 

outside of traditional instruction, including computer-assisted instruction and self-paced, individual 

student work plans. Faculty will be trained to integrate software applications and other instructional 

methods and formats to improve student success. Applied mathematics skills will be “embedded” into 

industrial technology and engineering technologies courses to provide the opportunity for students to 

learn by doing. By integrating basic math skills instruction with technical content, the student is prepared 

for many career paths that require a highly-skilled workforce. 
Page | 9

WEST LOS ANGELES COLLEGE

PR Award Number: P382A090015 

Project Director's Name: Lloyd Thomas 

State: California

Telephone Number: (310) 287-4228 

E-mail Address: thomasl@wlac.edu

West Los Angeles College (West), a two-year, public community college in Culver City, California, 

serves a highly-diverse community and enrolls about 12,000 students, of which 44 percent are AfricanAmerican students. Over 87 percent of the students are minorities, and 83 percent are low-income or 

first- generation in college. 

The PBI program at West will increase the number of African-American and other low-income students 

in Aviation Technology, a program, listed in the “National SMART Grants-Field of Study.” Inadequate 

funding to keep equipment up to date has limited enrollment, thus denying students access to training for 

high-pay/high-demand jobs. Aerospace (commercial and defense) is a major area industry in Los 

Angeles County, employing approximately 50,000 workers. 

The West project will add training equipment, computer labs, and education technology for training 

students in the Aviation Technology field. Program enrollment will increase by 50 percent, positively 

affecting the number of full-time, degree-seeking undergraduate students. With better equipment and 

technology, West expects to increase the semester and year-to-year persistence rate for students. Because 

Aviation Technology typically appeals more to males, West expects that expanded access and improved 

resources will attract and retain an increased number of African-American males.

The one-year project is focused on infrastructure development and not on creating positions or processes 

requiring continuing support. The program objectives are:

 to upgrade Aviation Technology equipment and training aids;

 to create two, new up-to-date computer labs for computer-assisted instruction in technical skills; 

and

 to equip two classrooms with instructional technology to bring digital resources into instruction 

and address students‟ diverse learning styles.

As a result of the PBI support, West will remove the enrollment cap, allowing program enrollment to 

increase from 150 students to 225 students by the end of 2010.
Page | 10

YORK COLLEGE

PR Award Number: P382A090025 

Project Director's Name: Dawn Hewitt 

State: New York

Telephone Number: (718) 262-2060 

E-mail Address: hewittd@york.cuny.edu

York College is a public, four-year commuter college enrolling approximately 7,157 students. York is a 

senior college in the City University of New York (CUNY) system, the nation‟s largest urban, public 

university, with 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, and several graduate colleges and specialized 

institutions. Located in Queens, New York, one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the nation, 

York has 95 percent minority students, including 55 percent African-American, 24 percent Hispanic and 

15 percent Asian (York College Fact Book, Academic Year: 2008-2009).

York College has designed a comprehensive, integrated institutional approach to the PBI program, with 

four major goals, each with specific activities to carry out the goals:

1. Recruit and retain African-American and other minority students, by providing enhanced 

instructional support.

2. Improve six-year graduation rates of African-American students, by providing an enhanced and 

coordinated academic support system, from initial entry through graduation, including proactive 

advising on appropriate course selection leading to career choices, supplemental instruction, 

summer bridge programs, tutoring and mentoring, and peer-led learning communities.

3. Increase the number of African-American students graduating with degrees in STEM or STEMrelated, health and medical disciplines, by developing a comprehensive program for student 

research of discovery, a new initiative in quantitative reasoning, and a minority high school 

summer research program to build a STEM pipeline.

4. Provide enhanced institutional support, including library facilities and services, and special 

tutoring and mentoring programs designed to enhance overall success for African-American 

students.

Each goal is based on research, best practices, and successful programs at other predominantly black 

institutions, historically black colleges and universities, and predominantly white institutions. The goals 

also reflect York‟s annual performance goals set by the president, Dr. Marcia V. Keizs, with specific 

targets and measures: one-year retention rate of full-time freshmen, six-year retention graduation rate of 

full-time, first-time freshmen, total enrollment, mean SAT score of regularly admitted first-time 

freshmen, and student satisfaction with academic support, student services, and computer technology. 

The four project goals will be supported by specific activities to be conducted over one year. Although 

they are described as separate service, the activities are crucial to African-American student achievement 

and inter-connected to overall project success. The successful fulfillment of the goals will enable York to 

increase the number of African-American students who are retained, graduate and enter the technological 

and health/medical workforce or who seek advanced degrees in STEM and health-related disciplines.

5/31/2011

###