Sept. 27, 2001
The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education in the U.S.
Department of Education, through its Comprehensive Program, has awarded
a $439,742 grant to Ferris State's Structured Learning Assistance
Program in the University College for the "Modeling A Successful
Student Retention & Faculty Development Program." Seventy-one
percent of the $620,144 total cost of the project is being federally
funded by FIPSE, with the remaining 29 percent funded by the four
institutions participating in the project.
The "Modeling A Successful Student Retention & Faculty Development
Program" will begin on Oct. 1 and extend for a three-year period
through Sept. 30, 2004.
The SLA Program is a proven and successful model that improves student
pass rates. The project will disseminate the model used at Ferris State
for the past seven years to four partner academic institutions, which
have documented significant problems with low course pass rates and
retention of academically at-risk students. SLA is an innovative
program that differs from traditional supplemental instruction
approaches. Through its use of mandatory student attendance and a
strong faculty development component, SLA has evolved into a two-tiered
learning enhancement system.
The four partner academic institutions participating in this project
include Benedictine University in Lisle, Ill.; Indiana University/Purdue University in Indianapolis, Ind.;
Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Ky.; and San Jacinto Community College in Houston, Texas.
John Kowalczyk, Ph.D., program coordinator of the SLA Program
will serve as the overall FIPSE Project director and trainer. He will
be assisted with the training of these four schools by Terry Doyle,
associate professor, Center for Teaching, Learning & Faculty
Development. The grant proposal was written by a team that, in addition
to Kowalczyk and Doyle, included Joan Totten, department head, Developmental Programs and Curriculum, University College; William Potter, Ph.D., dean, University College; and former Ferris Grants Director Dr. Tamsey Andrews.
The FIPSE Comprehensive Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of
Education, is a grant competition designed to support innovative reform
projects that hold promise as models for the resolution of important
issues and problems in postsecondary education. The competition for
these grants is extremely competitive. In the current fiscal year
2001-02 competition, of 1,500 preliminary proposals received by FIPSE,
only 75 applicants were awarded grants.
Grants of this size must be approved by the Ferris Board of Trustees.
The Board's Finance Committee voiced its approval of the project last
week. The full Board will consider it at its Oct. 19 meeting.
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