(미국대학장학금)WMU using NEH grant to aid first-generation college students_Western Michigan University[웨스턴미시건대학교]
The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded a $100,000 grant to Western Michigan University's Humanities for Everybody—H4E—program.
The NEH Humanities Access matching grant, announced Dec. 15, will help H4E expand and create a bridge-year program for first-generation college students transitioning to higher education.
H4E provides a series of free, rigorous humanities courses to members of the greater Kalamazoo community that are taught by experienced WMU faculty members. It is a collaboration between the University Center for the Humanities at WMU and the housing-related charity Open Doors Kalamazoo.
ABOUT THE GRANT
Coupled with funding from other sources, the NEH grant will enable H4E to expand its efforts to serve first-generation college students by creating a bridge year between their senior year in high school and freshman year in college.
This bridge-year program will address the need for greater community involvement in preparing first-generation college students to pursue and complete their college educations.
"Unlike most bridge-year programs, where universities send students out into communities before their freshman year, we propose to bring the University to the community itself," says Dr. Dini Metro-Roland, H4E director and a WMU associate professor of teaching, learning and educational studies.
"We believe that without exposure to a rich and engaging curriculum, without emotional and academic support from committed members of the faculty, and without a safe and supportive peer group, many first-generation students will fail to take advantage of the opportunities available to them by the Kalamazoo Promise [scholarship]."
Metro-Roland says the NEH grant will not only provide essential seed money for scholarships for Promise-ineligible students, but also help offset H4E's costs for operation and orientation activities, and the hiring of a coordinator and recruiter.
