UNIVERSITY RECEIVES HISTORIC STEM GRANT FROM DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Caldwell University learned this past fall that it was awarded a historic $4,979,840 in competitive grant funding to benefit Hispanic and low-income students who are planning careers in science, math and computer science from the U.S. Department of Education’s Fiscal Year 2021 Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and Articulation Program.
The five-year grant was awarded for the University’s new STEM Advance initiative to benefit undergraduate students in the School of Natural Sciences, the Department of Mathematics, and the computer science program in the School of Business and Computer Science.
The program will enable Caldwell to hire additional STEM faculty to create new courses and to mentor internships, supervise research and counsel about employment opportunities. It will allow for the hiring of bilingual staff to recruit and support students and their families and to develop articulation agreements with Passaic County Community College, also an HSI, thereby streamlining the process for students to transfer into Caldwell’s STEM programs. The program will fund the purchase of scientific instruments and the upgrading of research and
computer science laboratory spaces.
“We want to help students think about themselves as scientists, do science by conducting research and experience science through internships,” said William Velhagen, Ph.D., associate dean of the School of Natural Sciences and the project director of Stem Advance.
The University will establish a $360,000 endowment to support student internships and/or research related to those careers in perpetuity. In this way, the impact of the five-year grant will be felt for decades.
The grant requires a 50% match, $180,000, from the University. Upon the news, the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs began soliciting alumni and friends. “I am proud to report our first two verbal pledges totaling $50,000 so we are more than 25% toward reaching our goal,” said Kevin Boyle, vice president of development and alumni affairs.
The grant application was led by Patricia Levins, Caldwell’s director of corporate, foundation and government relations. Learn more about how you can become part of this special endeavor and matching grant by contacting Kevin Boyle at kboyle@caldwell. edu or 973 618-3372.
