Fairmont State University Receives US Department of Education Title III Strengthening Institutions Program Grant
Fairmont State University has been awarded a US Department of Education Strengthening
Institutions Program grant that will provide more than $2.2 million dollars over a
five-year period for several capacity-building initiatives in support of student success.
The project is titled “Bridging the Gap for Underserved Students: Constructing a Comprehensive and Integrated Infrastructure for Student Success at Fairmont State University.”
The grant will fund the development and piloting of several new initiatives on campus that will directly impact the student experience, including: a Student Professional Corps and career mentoring program intended to help students make meaningful connections between their current experiences and future career goals; a Student Success Ambassador program to help students better connect with the various resources that will help them achieve their educational goals, and; Hy-Flex courses that are delivered in a hybrid and flexible format to allow students to participate in face-to-face, online synchronous, and online asynchronous learning modalities within a single course in order to accommodate various life circumstances that can present obstacles to degree completion for students.
“We know first-hand the complexities many students are attempting to manage, specifically for historically underserved populations. These complexities adversely impact their achievement in academics and social engagement,” explained Dr. Timothy Oxley, a longstanding administrator at Fairmont State who will serve as the Title III Project Director. “The better able we are as an institution to plan for, prepare for, and meet these students where their needs are, the better able we are to improve their student experience and provide the support and connections needed for their success in degree completion and career readiness.”
Additionally, the funding will help Fairmont State assess, align, and improve its various technology platforms and data collection processes.
The grant also funds an endowment match challenge that will help the institution build its endowment. The grant will provide dollar-for-dollar matching funds to nonfederal dollars raised in support of the endowment.
“This Title III grant is a huge win for Fairmont State. The funding will enable strategic restructuring of our systems to better serve our students as well as the development of innovative programs to enhance the student experience at Fairmont State,” stated Michael Davis, President of Fairmont State University. “The endowment challenge will help us further secure the University’s financial future. This is an exciting time to be at Fairmont State.”
This is the third Title III Strengthening Institutions Program grant Fairmont State has received. The first was awarded in 2004 and the second in 2012.
“Fairmont State University has a long history of innovation in the higher education space,” Oxley stated. “This Title III grant will enable us to further build supportive connections between our existing student and academic success initiatives and those we feel will best meet the needs of our students. By employing innovative approaches to student and academic success, our goal is to afford every student an opportunity to have the transformative experience we know can occur with the right support. These initiatives strike at the very core of our mission.”
The US Department of Education’s Title III Strengthening Institutions Program is a competitive grant opportunity to support institutions of higher education serving low-income students by funding projects designed to strengthen the institution’s academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability.
