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NEWS RELEASE |
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NEWS RELEASE |
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Arizona Board of Regents |
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June 6, 2002
Contact: Norma Salas, Assistant for Public Affairs, ABOR, (602) 229-2543, nsalas@asu.edu
Students at Arizona’s public universities are directly benefiting from 20 initiatives to support new, innovative education projects.
The 20 programs were chosen from among 100 proposals received from faculty throughout the university system to further one of the Board’s major initiatives, Learner Centered Education, or LCE.
“The Board is thrilled that there was so much interest from faculty for this grant program,” said ABOR president Kay McKay. “The Board has been examining learner-centered education for two years and is excited that it can fund these initiatives to implement LCE principles at the universities. I know students will benefit tremendously from the new programs.”
LCE places the student at the center of education, with methods of instructional delivery, student services and student assessment, all geared toward providing an individualistic, flexible and more comprehensive educational experience for students.
The LCE grants, intended to provide matching funds for innovative projects that will help to increase enrollment, retention and graduation rates, were approved by the Board at its last meeting.
The grants are funded by revenues from proposition 301. The Technology and Research Initiative Fund, which includes the portion of revenues from Proposition 301, is expected to earn $40 to $45 million in its first year, which runs through June. Most of the funds are being used for university projects in environmental science, manufacturing and materials, optics and water sustainability initiatives at the universities. The Board reserved a small portion to fund the LCE grants and Arizona Regents University.
The grants were awarded as follows:
Institution Grants Awarded Total
AwardedArizona State University 4 $90,000 Northern Arizona University 7 $183,897 University of Arizona 8 $195,137 Tri-University 1 $100,000 Among the funded programs:
- A tri-university grant, the largest awarded, will fund workshops, mentoring efforts, a virtual conference center, web-based materials and videotapes to assist faculty across the university system to integrate LCE approaches into their courses.
- NAU will develop a simulated school on the web to provide teaching majors an interactive website in which students become members of a school faculty to get individualized, hands-on, problem-based learning experience.
- NAU will assess course requirements and examine strategies to enhance student success in 13 courses that enroll nearly 5,000 each year.
- ASU will expand the learner-centered communities that have been formed for entering students at ASU West. The approach has been successful, with 91 percent of students returning for a second semester and an average GPA of 2.97, higher than the system average for first semester students of 2.7.
- UA will create a student run music record label, Park Avenue Records (PAR), in the School of Music and Dance. Specializing in local jazz artists, the project will provide a laboratory for Music, Media Arts, and Business students, providing experience in marketing, promotion, and arts management. The record label expects to be self-supporting within three years.
- UA South in Sierra Vista has won a grant to assist professors across the campus to prepare and deliver distance education courses using LCE procedures.
2002-2003 LCE Grant Request for Proposal
Instructions to apply for next year’s grants are available at the ABOR website at http://www.abor.asu.edu. Proposals for next year’s awards are due by September 23, 2002.
Note: A list of all funded programs, with contact information is attached.
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Arizona Board of Regents
2020 N. Central Ave., Suite 230
Phoenix, AZ 85004-4593
Telephone: (602) 229-2500 / Fax: (602) 229-2555