Skip to main content

College Wins DOE Grant for $2.23M, STEM Support

Salt Lake Community College has been awarded a $2.23 million grant under the Department of Education's hallmark Strengthening Institutions program. This grant will support strategic initiatives in the School of Science, Mathematics and Engineering, including the remodel of the Math, Science & Technology Resource Center, the creation of analytic systems to study critical attrition points in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education, and the large-scale implementation of best-practice support services for STEM students. 

An increasing number of students enter SLCC each year underprepared for college level math and science. The result is that many students struggle to complete key courses that are required to graduate or transfer. “An extremely frustrating problem is that there is a general awareness that completion rates are declining but no one can discover the underlying causes,” said Craig Caldwell, dean of the SLCC School of Science, Mathematics and Engineering. “This project will pioneer a new approach to supporting, assessing and improving achievement in STEM.” 


The federal Strengthening Institutions (SI) program is designed to serve institutions with a high percentage of low-income students as well as those with relatively low operating budgets per student. Institutions must first apply for a SI designation that “qualifies” entities to then be eligible to apply for grant funds. The designation has to be applied for each year in December and is good for only the next calendar year. The unique SI grants help institutions develop and build sustainable infrastructure and capacity rather than fund programs of limited scope and duration.

“This five-year award will strongly support SLCC’s goals in student completion, equity in student participation and completion and institutional stability and capacity,” said Nicole Omer, director of SLCC’s Office of Sponsored Projects. “This is a win for the entire SLCC community.”

Funds from the $2.23 million grant will help SLCC remodel a portion of its Science and Industry Building to create a new Math, Science & Technology Resource Center, which will be centrally located and easily accessed with an array of learning supports available. Grant monies will help create a supplemental workshop program that will offer strategic support for students at critical times during the academic term. The workshop series will be developed and taught by faculty members in high attrition gateway courses in science and math.  The grant will also support an early alert system for identifying at-risk students, using an intrusive advising strategy. This approach will actively reach out and connect struggling students with learning support mechanisms to help them persist and be successful.  Money from the grant will also be used for the creation of performance indicators and quantitative measures of success for the academic divisions within the SLCC School of Science, Mathematics and Engineering.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SLCC Business School is Utah’s First to be Named Exclusively After a Woman

Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) proudly announces a partnership with the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation to modernize its Business Building and transform its School of Business. The improvements are made possible through a generous $10 million gift from the Miller Family Foundation and Gail Miller, the largest-ever single cash donation received by the college.  SLCC is renaming its Business Building the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Business Building in honor of the Miller family’s legacy and contributions to the community. The business school will be named the Gail Miller School of Business in recognition of the strong business acumen Gail Miller displays as a community leader and as the owner and immediate past chair of the Larry H. Miller Company. This name change will make SLCC home to the only business school in Utah and one of only a few in the country to be named exclusively after a woman.  “We are deeply humbled by the generosity of Gail and the Miller fam
Post a Comment
Read more

SLCC's Undergraduate Annual Research Conference Registration Deadline

Salt Lake Community College’s annual Undergraduate Projects, Performances, Presentations, and Research Conference (UP3RC) is set to take place on April 2, at the Taylorsville Redwood Campus, offering students a chance to showcase their academic achievements, fostering a culture of intellectual exchange.  The UP3RC is an annual event designed to celebrate and highlight the academic accomplishments of undergraduate students. It provides a supportive environment for students to share their work, hone their presentations skills, receive constructive feedback, and engage in meaningful discussions with their peers and faculty. All SLCC departments and programs, including faculty and staff, are encouraged to support and visit the day of the event. Students with their poster from last year's UPRC event “The goal of this event is to make sure every school and student is given the opportunity to participate,” says Dr. Kamal Bewar, interim director of the STEM Learning Center, who is chairin
Post a Comment
Read more

You’re Invited to A Party! Open House Kicks off New Herriman Campus

  Complimentary food truck fare, live music, and family activities spotlight new campus.   There’s something for everyone at the upcoming Herriman Campus Community Open House on Friday, August 4 (3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.). See schedule below.   The public is invited to celebrate the opening of this new campus with festivities that include free local food truck fare, live music, and a Mocktail Mixer, where you can mingle with others, including Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) and University of Utah (U of U) faculty.   Families with kids can engage in face painting and a craft station, see the Super Mario Brothers movie, and high-five mascots Brutus, Swoop and Yeti.   This is an opportunity to have some summer fun for all ages and to check out the Juniper building on the new 88-acre SLCC Herriman campus.    At the open house, prospective students and their families can meet SLCC and U of U faculty and staff, take a tour the building, or even check out the Application & Transfer Lab a
Post a Comment
Read more