TITLE III: IVCC receives $1.7 million grant
By Mike Bryan and Beth Horrell
Apache staff
A $1.7 million grant is allowing IVCC to add staff members and organize a Division of Academic Enrichment to improve the retention and success of students.
The grant is also allowing the college to develop high interest, high demand career programs identified at this point as computer network administration, graphic arts technology and human services.
Awarded in late May, the Title III Strengthening Institutions Program Grant will provide $350,000 yearly for five years.
“This grant gives us resources for faculty and staff and for programs that will keep students from dropping out,” said Dr. Harriet Custer, vice president of academic affairs.
Under the new Division of Academic Enrichment, the college is taking a three-pronged approach: strengthening developmental education, identifying and responding to at-risk students, and developing learning communities.
Marianne Dzik, who has been Coordinator of Special Populations, will head the new division.
On Sept. 20 the college board approved the hiring of five new staff members: an assessment, placement and tracking specialist, two laboratory instructors in math, a laboratory instructor in writing and study skills, and a counselor/orientation specialist. Plans are for most of those positions to be filled by the start of the spring semester, Custer said.
These new staff will be part of an early alert system to identify and contact at-risk students and direct those students to help. An orientation program is also planned which will include an orientation course and self-paced on-line units. Custer said eventually, all students would be required to demonstrate the competencies necessary for success in entry-level courses.
Developmental courses will e revised and may also become competency based and include on-line work, Dzik said.Custer said the learning communities to be developed will place students in groups, with them taking two or three courses together and working in study groups.
Besides these areas, the grant allows IVCC to set up a $105,000 endowment in the last two years. The interest income from the endowment will be used to continue the student retention and success strategies beyond the life of the five-year grant.
The 18-month effort to receive the U.S. Department of Education grant involved more than 30 staff members and was headed by Dzik, Bonita Dahlbach, director of development; and Lori Nall, chair of the social science division.
“Any time we can be aggressive in obtaining federal funding sources to strengthen our college, we are pleased,” said President Dr. Jean Goodnow. “This grant allows IVCC to improve the retention and success of our students without placing the burden for funding on our taxpayers.”