SLCC Receives $600K National Science Foundation Grant
Salt Lake City, Utah (PRWEB) February 25, 2015 -- Salt Lake Community College was recently awarded a $604,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) program.
The Foundation’s program supports scholarships for academically talented students demonstrating a financial need, enabling them to enter the workforce following completion of an associate or bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline. Institutions throughout the U.S. annually vie for grants from this highly competitive program.
“Our plan is designed to substantially increase the number of graduates in STEM disciplines who come from disadvantaged backgrounds,” said Craig Caldwell, SLCC interim dean of the School of Science, Mathematics & Engineering. “Economic growth in Utah has created an immediate need for STEM graduates in the workforce. Both the private sector and state government are strongly articulating the need to rapidly increase graduation rates in STEM areas to fill the needs of local employers.”
Caldwell said the funds will support students, in particular minorities and women, who are committed to completing STEM-related degrees. This will include traditional students as well as a group of near-completers who have “stalled” in their education. The outcome is expected to be a doubling of the number of graduates in SLCC’s STEM programs over the course of the five-year project.
Salt Lake Community College is an accredited, student-focused, urban college meeting the diverse needs of the Salt Lake community. Home to more than 60,000 students each year, the College is Utah’s leading provider of workforce development programs. SLCC is also the largest supplier of transfer students to Utah’s four-year institutions and a perennial Top 10 college nationally for total associate degrees awarded. The College is the sole provider of applied technology courses in the Salt Lake area, with multiple locations, an eCampus, and nearly 1,000 continuing education sites located throughout the Salt Lake Valley. Personal attention from an excellent faculty is paramount at the College, which maintains an average class size of 20.
Stephen Speckman, Salt Lake Community College, +1 (801) 957-5076, [email protected]
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