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MCC Daily Tribune

MCC Awarded AAC&U Guided Pathways Grant!

I am pleased to announce that MCC has been selected as one of twenty community colleges to participate in the Association of American Colleges and Universities' (AAC&U) Strengthening Guided Pathways and Career Success by Ensuring Students are Learning project. This two-year, grant-funded program is designed to strengthen institutional capacity to ensure students are learning, as part of the Guided Pathways framework for student success. As a participating institution, MCC will collaborate with AAC&U, the Center for Community College Student Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin, and other colleges from around the country, including San Jacinto College, Miami Dade College, Palo Alto College, and Community College of Baltimore County, to fulfill the following project goals:

  1. Contribute to the research-based, scalable prototype for the ensuring students are learning component of the Guided Pathways framework and cultivate a set of professional development tools for institutions to achieve the stated outcomes for measuring success.

  2. Develop a research design for studying the effects of this prototype on teaching and learning outcomes within a pathways framework at the institutional level.

  3. Work collaboratively with faculty to improve learning and quality in pathways programs to help students understand defined credential competencies and their alignment with employability skills and competencies.

We have put together a team of talented, insightful, and dedicated educators to ensure that we meet these objectives. They are as follows:

David Barnet, Curriculum and Assessment
Susan Belair, Anthropology-History-Political Science-Sociology
Thomas Blake, English-Philosophy
Kathleen Borbee, Business Administration
Amy Burtner, English-Philosophy
Kimberley Collins, Academic Services
Jim Conmiller, Biology
Mike Jacobs, Humanities and Social Sciences
Christina Lee, Global Education and International Services
Kim Mckinsey-Mabry,Business and Community Engagement
Gena Merliss, Teaching and Creativity Center
James Murphy, Biology
Terry Shamblin, Transitional Studies-ESOL
Catharine Ganze-Smith, English-Philosophy

Over the next two years, this team will take on a range of projects, from assessing the efficacy of current practices to developing research-based initiatives for increased student retention and success. As we work towards achieving the project goals, we will share updates with the College community.

Michael Jacobs
Humanities & Social Sciences
05/28/2019