In the fall of 2008, Medgar Evers College received the Predominantly Black Institutions (PBI) grant, in the amount of $1.2 million dollars ($600,000 dollars per year for two years) from the U.S Department of Education. The grant is focused on three core areas: enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, internationalization and globalization, and improving the outcomes of Medgar Evers College students. Programs initiated under the PBI grant at the College focus on strengthening programs through enhancement co-curricular experiences and improving educational outcomes for students by providing increased engagement in their field of study and future practice; increasing mentorship activities and providing supplemental academic support, especially in the sciences.
Over the past year, nine programs have been implemented to support the program’s goal of increasing retention and improving outcomes for students: Job Shadowing; Career 101; Summer’s Cool; C.E.L.L., Explorations; Grad School Bound; Men @ Work; The Learning Lounge; and the STEM Tutoring Program. The C.E.L.L. or the Co-Curricular Experiential Learning Lab (C.E.L.L) provided funding for Science faculty to design and implement a co-curricular experience for students in which they participate in experiential learning activities related to their major area of study. As part of C.E.L.L. Biology professors Dr. Edward Catapane and Dr. Margaret Carroll, and Dr. Vittadello from the Department of Physical, Environmental, and Computer Science (PECS), took and mentored 11 students on a trip to the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology Conference in Seattle, Washington, from January 2 to 7, 2010. There were six student posters presented from the summer research activities. Five of the students were first time conference attendees.
In January, Dr. Movasseghi and Professor Terrence Blackman took seven students to the 2010 Joint Mathematics Conference, which was held in San Francisco, California. This year’s conference offered a large and comprehensive scientific program geared towards mathematicians of all ages and levels of expertise. Medgar Evers College students Saida Boudlal, Mitch Joseph, Kadri Kifilu, Roger Palomino, Andre Robinson, Pedro Rodriguez, and Alisha Thompson were given the opportunity to see first-hand the evolution of mathematics theory and practice. Alisha Thompson, an aspiring high school mathematics teacher, noted, “The whole thing [conference] was very positive.”
“The conference really pushed me towards the grad school direction,” added Mitch Joseph. “Seeing all the success in mathematics in general [at the conference], I need an advanced degree to go far.”
Other recent non-C.E.L.L. activities the PBI grant has supported include the Summer’s Cool project in which sixteen psychology, social work, public administration, and marketing students, under the direction of Marketing Professor Yla Eason offered marketing assistance to the Harlem Dowling West Side Center for Children and Family Services during the summer of 2009. Professor Eason, PBI Program Director Porsha Childs, and students Jermaine Green and Carline Allicock were at the Hispanic Educational Technology Services (HETS) Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from November 14th to 15th presenting their work on this project.
“We are extremely appreciative of our ability to offer our students the opportunities to enhance their classroom experiences with high-quality research opportunities in a variety of disciplines,” said Dr. Claudia Schrader, Assistant Provost, and Principal Investigator of the PBI grant. “Through the grant PBI activities have already served nearly 700 students, and we expect to be able to serve over 1,000 prior to the end of the program.”
For more information about the PBI grant, please contact Dr. Claudia Schrader, Assistant Provost, and Principal Investigator of the PBI grant at 718-270-5011 or [email protected].
About Medgar Evers College, CUNY
Medgar Evers College was founded in 1970 through the efforts from educators and community leaders in central Brooklyn. The College is named after Medgar Wiley Evers, a Mississippi-born black civil rights activist who was assassinated on June 12, 1963. The College is divided into four schools: The School of Business; The School of Professional and Community Development; The School of Liberal Arts and Education; and The School of Science, Health, and Technology. Through these Schools, the College offers 29 associate and baccalaureate degree programs, as well as certificate programs in fields such as English, Nursing, and Accounting. Medgar Evers College also operates several co-curricular and external programs and associated centers such as the Male Development and Empowerment Center, the Center for Women’s Development, the Center for Black Literature, and The DuBois Bunche Center for Public Policy.