Title Role

Samantha Aaron Oversees the New Guilford Edge Grant Program

BY BRIAN SCHUH ‘02

Several campus innovations greeted students this year. New Summer Bridge programs to prepare for the school year, technological upgrades and renovations to create collaborative learning spaces and two new faculty positions in public health and sustainable foods debuted. More enhancements are on the way. These community additions may appear separate from one another, but all are a part of a five-year plan from a federal grant to assist Guilford College in retaining students and improving their academic experience.

Guilford last year received about $2 million in federal funding — the single largest non-endowment grant ever awarded to the College — through a Title III grant known as Strengthening Institutions Program to support the Guilford Edge.

The program helps colleges and universities expand their capacity to serve low-income students by providing funds to improve and strengthen the academic quality, institutional management and fiscal stability of eligible institutions.

Samantha (Sam) Aaron, who was hired in April as the College’s Title III Director, is tasked with overseeing the implementation and spending of the grant. Aaron came to Guilford from Piedmont Community College in Roxboro, N.C., where she directed the Trio Program, a federal outreach program targeting students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Aaron said the grant will improve the learning environment for Guilford students. “It is positioned to enhance the learning technologies and facilities in terms of classrooms, the availability of state-of-the-art technologies and digital art marketing, and building up the academic hub of the college by enhancing the efforts of the Guilford Edge, “ said Aaron. “All of these improvements enhance students’ abilities to stay and their desire to continue.”

Technological Innovations

Learning technology upgrades will include innovations in online, blended and project-based learning in Hege Library Academic Commons and the transformation of Duke Hall’s Leak Room into an interactive collaborative learning and presentation space.

“There are a lot of innovations that are warranted on Guilford's campus and Title III has given us an opportunity to really enhance our classroom spaces and some of our broader learning spaces from the ground up,” Aaron said.

One example of a transformed space is the Collaboratory on the second floor of Hege Library. Aaron describes the new space as a fluid learning environment with large monitors and furniture that

SAMANTHA AARON WILL OVERSEE A $2 MILLION FEDERAL GRANT THAT WILL HELP IMPROVE THE ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE FOR STUDENTS INCLUDING TWO FACULTY POSITIONS IN SUSTAINABLE FOODS AND PUBLIC HEALTH.

is reconfigurable in ways to facilitate different learning styles and activities.

Today’s students are not bound to a desk. “Movability is a huge trend in collaborative learning, meaning that we're no longer stationing our students in static places and forcing them to turn and manipulate themselves in order to work with collaborative groups,” Aaron said. “Another trend is deconstructing the learning environment so that it's more adaptable to not necessarily the curriculum, but to the student. No two students are alike, and we're finding more and more how important it is to be responsive to their individual needs.”

Future renovations of learning spaces and technology upgrades will include the Leak Room in Duke Hall and the creation of the One Button Studio. The Leak Room, currently a traditional lecture hall, will be “quartered” into four separate platforms, each with its own digital learning technology. The Academic Commons in Hege Library will also undergo a renovation to create the One Button Studio. Aaron details the plans for the studio as a “social academic space,” bringing together different offices into the building to make it a “one-stop hub” for academic advancement.

The grant also made possible two new faculty positions in Sustainable Foods and Public Health. These recent majors will be among the first at Guilford to use the newly adapted learning spaces and technologies such as Panopto, a learning software application that features lecture recording, screencasting, video streaming and video content management.

Summer Bridges

The Summer Bridge programs are designed to support first- and second-year students. Each residential program will host 15 students.

Aaron said many students new to higher education need additional support. “The programs offer an opportunity to give students a firsthand look of what college is going to be like before they actually do it and to also prepare themselves for their second year,”

This summer was the inaugural Bridge program for students transitioning into their second year. For several students it was their first time actually on campus, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Aaron said many students who participated in the 2021 program expressed an interest in serving as mentors for future programs.

Aaron’s own journey to higher education motivates and sustains her professional work in education grants.

“If it weren't for a grant, I would not have made it to college myself,” Aaron said. “The grant I received required me to participate in a summer bridge program. I had to take a couple of classes to prove that I could do the work, but in that experience the coursework was almost secondary. It was that community building that was most important.”

After graduating from Western Michigan University, Aaron launched into a 20-year career in the music industry. “I'm able to bring a lot of what I learned in promotions and marketing, public relations and management from the music industry into education,” she said. “You wouldn't think it would be a good marriage, but it actually is because it allows for the injection of new ideas and fresh takes on old concepts.”