CVHEC 2022 Mini Grant Applications Now Open
Applications for the next Central Valley Higher Education Consortium 2022 Mini-Grant cycle are now being accepted and will continue until funds are allocated.
Once funds are allocated, grantees have until May 30, 2023 to finalize expenditures.
The CVHEC Mini-Grants project, currently funded by the College Futures Foundation, provides awards from $5,000 to $7,500 each which faculty from member institutions have creatively used for individual projects that help achieve the consortium’s strategy of increasing degree attainment rates.
Previous Mini-Grants have supported assistance and professional learning associated with Guided Pathways, Math Pathways, implementation of Corequisite English and math, course development and advancement of Pathways for Associate Degrees for Transfer. The grants may also incentivize basic needs and equity, race and social justice work.
Member institutions are encouraged to apply soon to allow enough time for project completion before the expenditure deadline.
The mini-grant application can be found at https://www.cvhec.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CVHEC-Mini-Grant-2022-Application.pdf.
For application details, contact CVHEC Operations Manager Angel Ramirez at angelr@mail.fresnostate.edu.
Previous CVHEC Mini-Grants success stories:
CVHEC Director’s Message: Turning the Corner
Greetings colleagues,
I am happy to present our February CVHEC e-Newsletter amidst recent encouraging news showing our country may be turning the corner on this historic pandemic that has transformed the way we deliver instruction and services to our students in the region.
With that in mind, we are pleased to announce that this spring CVHEC will return to in-person convenings with two major events for the Valley’s education community, pandemic conditions permitting.
The first event March 17 will bring the Central Valley Dual Enrollment for Equity and Prosperity (CVDEEP) Task Force together with regional and statewide partners. See details in this issue.
For our second event, CVHEC leaders are excited about the return of our annual Legislative and Policy Summit in the late spring – details to follow in next month’s issue. The Summit has been on “pandemic hiatus” since 2019 and many are anxious to come together in person to follow up on much progress that our Valley higher education community has been pursuing.
Additionally, CVHEC will hold other professional development and regional meetings in-person when campus COVID regulations allow.
Also in this issue, we announce a new round of mini-grants launching this spring throughout the Central Valley. For the last three years, CVHEC has been able to offer this funding to member colleges and universities in the Central Valley providing opportunities for faculty and staff to target areas on their campuses that have been identified by the Consortium as regional strategies and priorities. We invite our member institutions to utilize this opportunity for services that can help your students.
Finally, we are especially pleased to publish the fourth installment of our “What the CV-HEC is Happening Blog” that features an entry by former CVHEC team member Virginia Madrid-Salazar, Esq. regarding dual enrollment from the personalized perspective of a parent of a high school student benefiting from taking college courses at his local high school. Dual enrollment is one of the equity strategies CVHEC is pursuing throughout the region and Virginia’s blog is a great warm-up for the CVDEEP Convening next month. I am proud to note that Virginia was instrumental in developing our CVDEEP Task Force while she was with us. We appreciate her taking some time from her busy law practice that she began last summer.
We hope you enjoy our newsletter for the month and we welcome your feedback
A NEW YEAR: Recharged for a Dynamic 2022
Hello friends and colleagues of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC)!
With 2022 well underway, we are pleased to share with you our first e-newsletter of the year. We at CVHEC wish you a dynamic start to the spring 2022 semester with hopes of reaching some sort of a new normal that will lead us to working, meeting our students and convening in-person in the near future.
Though 2021 was a challenging and unprecedented year for us all, CVHEC members and partners were fully engaged in working to deliver productive educational programs for our students and valuable professional development opportunities for our faculty and staff in the region. This month’s newsletter provides a brief summary and reminder of the good work that was done in the Central Valley this past year.
Among these are our Dual Enrollment Upskilling Teachers Master’s Program; announcement of our CVHEC Equity, Race and Social Justice Taskforce; success stories about our dual enrollment efforts featuring some of our Central Valley students as well as innovative initiatives undertaken with our popular CVHEC Mini-Grant Program; our communications initiatives resulting in ongoing development of this e-newsletter including a new blog feature, development of our public information officers/communications committee and a video on broadband disparity, one of three videos we are producing; our historic CVHEC/UC Merced Transfer Project and the appointment of several new chief executives for member campuses.
This newsletter will also provide a preview of higher education efforts to come in the valley this year.
Be on the lookout for a continuation of the work around equity and inclusion in member institutions through our Equity Task Force, the pursuit of dual enrollment as an equity strategy in rural parts of the Valley and the Consortium providing assistance in creating K16 collaboratives in the north and south counties of the region.
CVHEC is also partnering with state and regional advocates to work to bring broadband to rural parts of the Central Valley to ensure that internet connectivity and bandwidth are no longer a barrier for our students and residents.
Also, the CVHEC Board of Directors is considering conditions that will allow for delivering our annual Legislative and Policy Summit in an in-person setting later in the spring, for the first time since 2019.
Needless to say, while the pandemic has put the squeeze on all of us the past two years, we are more determined than ever to conquer that challenge as we have so many others. To that end, we look forward to continued partnerships with you all in the coming year.
Mini-Grant Success Story: CHSU Pre-Med Pathway Bootcamp
Pre-Med Bootcamp Helps Local Students
with CHSU-COM Med School Applications
NOTE: For the past three years, CVHEC Mini-Grants have been awarded to member institutions in support of CVHEC’s mission to increase degree attainment rates. We are highlighting how our member institutions’ innovative uses for the grants are positively impacting students.
A Pre-Med Pathway Bootcamp helped 25 local students prepare to apply to California Health Sciences University College of Osteopathic Medicine (CHSU-COM) thanks to funding from Central Valley Higher Education Consortium’s Mini-Grant project.
CVHEC’s $6,000 mini-grant offset course fees for students so they only had to pay $25 to reserve their seats. The grant also provided all MCAT prep supplies and instruction, T-shirts, certificates of completion and a catered lunch for the attendees.
“Our local pre-med students greatly benefited from only having to pay $25 for this in-depth Pre-Med Pathway Bootcamp,” said Dr. Kevin Steed, assistant professor of Biomedical Education who served as program director with Samuel Kadavakollu, PhD, chair of the Biomedical Education Department and associate professor at CHSU-COM.
“We appreciate CHSU’s and CVHEC’s commitment to keeping this program affordable for local students, many of whom would not have been able to participate if they had to pay thousands for a program of this caliber,” Dr. Steed said.
CHSU’s four-weekend bootcamp held in October was divided into three main categories with sessions that provided the aspiring pre-medical students an opportunity to prepare for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), learn about the medical school application process and experience the medical school environment.
In addition to classroom learning, pre-med students experienced HoloAnatomy using the Microsoft HoloLens; participated in a culinary workshop in the CHSU-COM Teaching Kitchen where they practiced cooking healthy recipes; and stepped into the shoes of a current medical student by participating in medical simulation scenarios in the CHSU Simulation Center with manikins and real Standardized Patients.
Graduates of the bootcamp were presented with certificates by John Graneto, DO, dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine and Lisa Chun, DO, associate dean of Osteopathic Clinical Education and Simulation.
CHSU is now planning for its next Pre-Med Pathway Bootcamp in spring 2022.
The CVHEC Mini-Grants project, currently funded by the College Futures Foundation, provides awards up to $10,000 each which faculty from consortium member institutions have creatively used for individual projects that help achieve CVHEC’s strategy of increasing degree attainment rates.
Previous mini-grants have supported assistance and professional learning associated with Guided Pathways, Math Pathways, implementation of Corequisite English and math, course development and advancement of Pathways for Associate Degrees for Transfer.
The 2021 funding cycle also sought to additionally incentivize basic needs and equity, race and social justice work. Details about applications for the 2022 funding cycle will be announced in January.
For more information about CVHEC Mini-Grants, contact Angel Ramirez at angelr@mail.fresnostate.edu.
Students prepared to apply to California Health Sciences University College of Osteopathic Medicine (CHSU-COM) at the Pre-Med Pathway Bootcamp with funding from the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Mini-Grant project.
Boot camp students participated in a culinary workshop in the CHSU-COM Teaching Kitchen where they practiced cooking healthy recipes.
Mini-Grants – COS Equitable Teaching Institute Supports Faculty Learning
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Mini-Grant Success Stories
COS Equitable Teaching Institute supports faculty learning
NOTE: For the past three years, Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Mini-Grants have been awarded to member institutions in support of CVHEC’s mission to increase degree attainment rates. We are highlighting how our member institutions’ innovative uses for the grants are positively impacting students.
The Equitable Teaching Institute at College of the Sequoias this summer engaged 10 faculty in an innovative four-week interdisciplinary cohort-based summer learning session that studied equitable pedagogy and how to apply it to gatekeeping courses at COS thanks to a $7,500 Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Mini-Grant.
The CVHEC Mini-Grants project, currently funded by the College Futures Foundation, provides awards up to $10,000 each which faculty from member institutions have creatively used for individual projects that help achieve the consortium’s strategy of increasing degree attainment rates. Previous mini-grants have supported assistance and professional learning associated with Guided Pathways, Math Pathways, implementation of Corequisite English and math, course development and advancement of Pathways for Associate Degrees for Transfer.
The 2021 funding cycle also sought to additionally incentivize basic needs and equity, race and social justice work.
At COS, ten faculty selected a different gatekeeping course and examined ways to reduce equity gaps for that specific course. This occurred in two phases done over four weekly themed sessions led by project coordinators Megan Baptista and Matthew C. Nelson, English professors at COS.
The Equitable Teaching culminated with the ETI Faculty Presentation Showcase Aug. 11 as part of the college’s Faculty Development Workshop Series attended by over 40 faculty colleagues during Fall 2021 Convocation Week.
At the culminating showcase, the ETI participants shared their findings, proposed changes and new pedagogy insights, reported Nicole Bryant Lescher, Far North regional coordinator for the California Community College Success Network (3CSN) who served as observer for the project’s first phase in June.
“The presentations were received well with many staying more than 30 minutes over the scheduled two-hour time slot to engage their colleagues about this work,” reported Lescher, who is a professor of English at the College of the Redwoods. “Faculty who attended this workshop left very positive comments in their evaluations and often remarked on changes they hope to make in their courses as a result of these presentations.”
Dr. Benjamin T. Duran, CVHEC executive director, said the COS Equitable Teaching Institute is “a perfect example of how Mini-Grant funds can support faculty learning toward equitable teaching.”
The faculty participants had three learning outcomes for the institute, Lescher reported: review equity concepts and identify local contexts driving equity gaps; explore culturally relevant teaching pedagogy; and use culturally relevant teaching and other equity frameworks to developed student-centered practices, policies, language and assignments for each cohort member’s identified gatekeeping course.
They also had three deliverables as a result of the program: a detailed reflection on their learning that outlined the changes they intend to make for their gatekeeping course; a proposal for a project inspired by the institute (the deliverables for each project varied, but typically these deliverables were tied to ETI faculty presentations during convocation week); and the final presentation at the ETI Faculty Presentation Showcase.
“One key takeaway many instructors found in the data was that small changes in how we teach can help us reduce and even close gaps,” Lescher said. “For example, in English 1, we observe equity gaps for African-American and Hispanic students.
“Between 2014 and 2021, those students were significantly less likely to succeed in English 1,” she explained. “However, the minimum number of students from those groups who would have needed to pass to shrink the gaps is 13 and 80, respectively. If we could get 31 more African American and 181 more Hispanic students to pass English 1, the equity gap disappears.”
She said there are 116 sections of English 1 being offered in fall 2021 and “each of us, making small changes focused specifically on disproportionately impacted student groups, can help close these gaps. If we can help just one more disproportionately impacted student meet the learning outcomes and pass in each English 1 section, we will have almost closed these gaps.”
The participants observed similarly achievable goals in all the gatekeeping classes examined during the institute, Lescher noted.
Nine out of the ten faculty members who presented and their topics are:
- Randy Villegas – “Students in Political Positions of Power”
- David Jones – “Grading Systems and Income Inequality”
- Jenny Heaton – “Reducing Student Anxiety and Fostering Student Agency”
- Samantha Sousa – “Creating a more equitable syllabus”
- Tracy Redden – “Syllabus Updates for Equity”
- Lisa McHarry – “Freeman, Engaging Diverse Voices with Social Annotation”
- Melissa Myers – “Creating Equitable Math Content Courses for Pre-Service Teachers”
- Courtney Traugh – “Student Learning Teams”
- Victoria Rioux – “Using UDL to Make Fieldwork More Equitable”
The project also provided an additional outcome: faculty participants engaged in learning together and found ways to apply what they learned to their courses, said Baptista.
“The grant money allowed us to pilot a project that engaged faculty in equity work, improving both our understanding of the work and how that work appears in our classrooms,” she said. “In the words of one of the participants, ‘I was unsure of this equity work, but after finishing the course, I am fully onboard.’”
The COS project’s $7,500 funding was proposed in the two phases with two main categories: stipends (6,500) and materials (1,000). For stipends, $1,000 each was earmarked for the two coordinators and $2,250 each for the nine participants.
The remaining $1,000 was used to purchase texts to facilitate continued faculty learning and engagement with equity conversations in their discipline and in their courses.
Applications for the next Mini-Grant cycle will be accepted beginning November 1, said Angel Ramirez, CVHEC operations manager (angelr@mail.fresnostate.edu).[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Mini-Grants – Reedley College’s Motivational Poster Project
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Mini-Grant Success Stories
Reedley College’s Motivational Poster Project
seeks equitable, inclusive spaces on campus
NOTE: For the past three years, CVHEC Mini-Grants have been awarded to member institutions in support of CVHEC’s mission to increase degree attainment rates. We are highlighting how our member institutions’ innovative uses for the grants are positively impacting students.
More than 70 motivational posters profiling a diverse range of student success stories were produced by the Reedley College Academic Senate thanks to funding from Central Valley Higher Education Consortium’s Mini-Grant project.
Currently funded by the College Futures Foundation, the Mini-Grants project provides awards up to $10,000 each which faculty from member institutions have creatively used for individual projects that help achieve the consortium’s strategy of increasing degree attainment rates. Previous mini-grants have supported assistance and professional learning associated with Guided Pathways, Math Pathways, implementation of Corequisite English and math, course development and advancement of Pathways for Associate Degrees for Transfer.
The 2021 funding cycle also sought to additionally incentivize basic needs and equity, race and social justice work.
At Reedley College, Rebecca Al Haider in the Communication and Languages Department undertook the Motivational Poster Project as part of the college’s Academic Senate’s anti-racism action plan “to create campus spaces that are equitable inclusive and diverse” by producing 70 posters that were printed in various languages, framed and displayed on campus.
The posters contained messages in English, Spanish, Arabic and Punjabi representing 33 students and 12 faculty, staff and administrators from various ethnicities/races, genders, sexual orientations, ages, religions, abilities, educational achievements and goals.
One of the posters highlighted Business Administration student Alejandra Reyes Enriquez, who began her higher education at Reedley College in the English as a Second Language program where she earned her high school diploma and enrolled in Business Administration classes. She transferred to Fresno State where she is pursuing a degree in accounting. Al Haider said Alejandra’s posters highlight her great achievements as a mother, immigrant and first-generation college student.
“What started out as a desire to simply learn a new language, turned into a desire to build a better future for myself and my family,” Alejandra said. “It is never too late to achieve your goals and change not only your story, but your family’s story for generations to come.”
In addition to poster printing and frames costs, Reedley College’s $8,100 grant provided two monitors and computers installed in the cafeteria and Math/Science Building to display videos of twelve profiled students and employees sharing their educational experiences and achievements as well as offering advice.
For more information about the Mini-Grant process, contact Angel Ramirez at angelr@mail.fresnostate.edu.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Mini-Grant Success Stories – MJC’s Faculty Mentor Plan Supports AB705
Adjunct Faculty Embedded Into Accelerated/Co-Requisite English, Math
Modesto Junior College recently used its Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Mini-Grant to support compliance with California Assembly Bill 705 by funding a faculty mentor program that embedded adjunct faculty into accelerated/co-requisite English and math courses during the Spring 2021 semester, addressing the key elements of persistence; time to degree; and decreasing equity gap.
“Modesto Junior College’s use of the grant funds is the epitome of the benefits we seek when distributing the mini-grants,” said Dr. Ben Durán, CVHEC executive director. “The grants are intended to spur up creative approaches to institutionalizing equitable systems. Modesto College has done just that.”
Now in its third year, the CVHEC Mini-Grants program, currently funded by the College Futures Foundation, provides awards with a maximum $7,500 each which faculty from member institutions have creatively used for individual projects that help achieve the consortium strategy of increasing degree attainment rates.
Last year, the grants awarded for projects in various amounts provided assistance and professional learning associated with Guided Pathways, Math Pathways, implementation Corequisite English and math course development, and advancement of Pathways for Associate Degrees for Transfer. The 2021 funding cycle also sought to additionally incentivize basic needs and equity, race and social justice work.
With its $7,500 grant, Modesto Junior College eyed a plan to enhance its approach to AB705. The goal of MJC’s project was to expand the courses in highest demand — English 100 (transfer level English) and Math 34 (statistics) — by mentoring adjunct faculty in the pedagogy and andragogy used in the co-requisite and accelerated courses. While being mentored, the adjunct faculty were embedded with an experienced mentor, a faculty member who teaches accelerated and co-requisite courses.
At MJC, changes were made to both English and math using best practices from the California Acceleration Project leading to significant gains in transfer-level completers, and throughput for both departments, reported Dr. Laura Maki, dean of Science, Math and Engineering.
Comparing 1-year throughputs in fall 2017 to fall 2019, English 1 year throughput increased from 45.2 percent to 51.9 and math 1 year throughput more than tripled from 10.7 percent to 34.2, Dr. Maki said in MJC’s final mini-grant report.
In English and in math, two adjunct faculty were embedded into the accelerated composition course (English 100), and into the statistics co-requisite courses (Math 34) respectively in Spring 2021, she reported.
During the semester, each mentee received hands-on experience in the activities and lessons being used in the course, with the goal of increasing their understanding of the acceleration pedagogy and andragogy.
In math, faculty also discussed and reviewed the impact of AB705, equity gaps and disproportionate impact with their mentor adjunct faculty. Adjunct participants were provided with a stipend and FLEX credit during Spring 2021.
In fall 2021, with Modesto Junior College’s high demand for the co-requisite statistics courses, both adjunct faculty mentees will teach a section of Math 34, a 28 percent increase in the number of sections offered.
The co-requisite mentor program has given the instructors the confidence and preparation needed to independently teach the co-requisite statistics course emphasizing the ability to identify equity gaps and provide support for students with a variety of academic and social backgrounds, Dr. Maki reported.
Mini-Grant Success Stories – Brandman University’s Textbook Award Program
For the past three years, Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Mini-Grants have been awarded to member institutions in support of CVHEC’s mission to increase degree attainment rates. We will highlight how members’ innovative uses for the grants are positively impacting students in our CVHEC e-Newsletters. We begin telling this story with Brandman University which created the Textbook Award Program for 50 students.
CVHEC Mini-Grants support Brandman students in pandemic
In an innovative use of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Mini-Grants Program, CVHEC member Brandman University funded the Textbook Award Program, reaching out to its students at three Central Valley campuses for immediate relief to about 50 participants during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CVHEC Mini-Grants, in various amounts up to $7,500 each funded by partner College Futures Foundation(CFF), are intended to support activities providing assistance and professional learning associated with Guided Pathways, Math Pathways, implementation Corequisite English and math course development (implementation of AB 705 and EO 1110), and advancement of Pathways for Associate Degrees for Transfer.
For this year’s cycle, in response to the COVID Pandemic and racial unrest last summer, the criteria was expanded to incentivize basic needs and equity, race and social justice work.
This led Brandman to use its Mini-Grant funds to create $150 book vouchers for undergraduate, first-generation students, reports Sonia Gutierrez-Mendoza, director of the Visalia and Lemoore campuses.
“When CVHEC expanded its criteria this year and called for initiatives that could help students during the pandemic, we asked our students ‘what are some of your pain points during this difficult time?’” she said.
“Over and over, we heard them say ‘we can’t buy textbooks because Financial Aid is not in yet’ so with CVHEC’s expanded criteria for the mini-grants, we created this program and notified recipients of their award right before the winter break, when expenses add up for their families.”
Richard Carnes, director of Brandman’s Modesto campus, credited Gutierrez-Mendoza for the Textbook Award ideaand its innovative appeal since the grants are usually applied to long-term pathways projects.
“Those long-term projects are good and necessary, but students need help now,” Carnes said.
“We told our students that CVHEC projects like the Mini-Grants demonstrate to them, and to our university team, that the higher education community here in our Central Valley is united and supportive of your endeavors and want to help make a positive impact on your success and persistence,” he added.
Gutierrez-Mendoza agrees. “Students can’t walk those pathways very well if they have pebbles in their shoes, or worse,” she said. “When we told our students how CVHEC was there with its CFF partner to lend a hand, they were so grateful. To know that, even in a small way, this grant helped students persist in their college education is an amazing feeling.”
That gratitude was reflected in a letter campaign the students undertook thanking Dr. Ben Duran, CVHEC executive director, his team and CFF. The Brandman students, who are adult-learners, shared how the textbook awards positively impacted them during a difficult year.
Bethany Burnes
Bethany Burnes of Brandman University’s Visalia campus, who reported she has been off work for “what seems like forever due to COVID restrictions” while also welcoming her third child born on Christmas Day, said, “Things have been really tight with our household budget and with your assistance some of the pressure is now off of me and frees up some money for my babies. I appreciate this grant so much!”
Karla Melgar of the Modesto campus said the Textbook Award “was such a big help for me and my family since I’m the only one currently working full time. Once again thank you!”
For Marybel Herrera, also a Visalia campus student who plans to graduate this spring with a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies, the award is “like the icing on the cake to my last semester at Brandman University. In a time like this, and all the changes that COVID has brought to everyone, this award is a nice change. Once again thank you!”
Duran commended Brandman University for responding to this year’s Mini-Grant program criteria expansion, which was intended to encourage CVHEC member institutions to create innovative ways to help students when the pandemic was having the greatest impact, and creating the Textbook Award Program to help fulfill that need with the grant funds.
“We applaud Brandman for identifying a basic need that was just in time especially during this period in our history when there has been so much uncertainty,” Duran said. “We definitely want to see more students complete degrees and this simple use of our grant dollars shows the great impact a small grant can have when our members are allowed to use their creativity to connect with their students whose immediate needs they know best.”
CVHEC Mini-Grants support degree attainment strategies
The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Mini-Grants have been creatively used by faculty from member institutions for individual projects that help achieve the consortium strategy of increasing degree attainment rates.
Now in its third year, the CVHEC Mini-Grants program, currently funded by the College Futures Foundation, provides awards with a maximum $7,500 each.
Last year, the grants awarded for projects in various amounts provided assistance and professional learning associated with Guided Pathways, Math Pathways, implementation Corequisite English and math course development, and advancement of Pathways for Associate Degrees for Transfer. This new funding cycle is seeking to additionally incentivize Basic Needs and Equity, Race and Social Justice work.
One project last year funded a four-day workshop for faculty learning, strategies and techniques that have made the institution’s English coreq model successful.
Another produced a video capturing student voices for Guided Pathways and funded professional development for student services personnel to redesign student services for Guided Pathways.
A third grant supported faculty stipends for researching effective supplemental learning models/services and development of recommendations as well as travel to colleges to investigate supplemental learning models.
“These grants provide great incentive for faculty to undertake measures that will help their students pursue courses relevant to attaining their degree,” said Dr. Ben Durán, CVHEC executive director.
The filing period is now open for the CVHEC Mini-Grants and while there is no set deadline to apply, the funds must be expended prior to April 30, 2021 so applicants are encouraged to submit their request as soon as possible to get started on their respective projects.
For more information or to receive another application packet (first distributed in October), contact Duran (bduran@csufresno.edu) or Angel Ramirez (angelr@csufresno.edu) in the CVHEC office.