GGC receives $2.8 million in public grants Publicly funded initiatives save students money, enrich learning experiences, broaden opportunities and expand the realm of human knowledge. GGC faculty and staff have established
a successful record in obtaining public
grants to fund research, special programs and other initiatives. To date, the college has $2.8 million in active, public grants, ranging from a few thousand dollars to a $1.6 million grant (see story, page 14).
Often awarded through a competitive
process, public grants are provided by
state and federal agencies, and are man-
aged through the GGC Office of Research, Sponsored Programs, Accreditation and Certification Activities. Private funding is managed through the GGC Office of Advancement.
Following are several example de-
scriptions of Georgia Gwinnett College’s active, public grants.
Affordable Learning Georgia University System of Georgia (USG)
Affordable Learning Georgia (ALG) Text Book Transformation Grants support
development of free, online textbooks
student earns a degree or not.”
GGC’s six ALG grants, totaling $96,400,
support faculty teams’ work on digital
textbooks for human geography, music
appreciation, American government, digital media and Spanish courses, as well as the
pilot of online math materials developed at another USG institution. Replacing mate-
rials priced from $43 to $215 each for 2,650 GGC students taking those courses results in annual savings of more than $351,000. “Online materials make a real differ-
ence,” said Arant. “In sections piloting the
free digital media textbook, the DFW (D, F,
Withdraw) rate dropped from 20 percent to 6.8 percent, clearly indicating the signif-
icance of ensuring that all students have access to textbooks. We look forward to
similar success in the other five courses.”
Student learning and support DFW rates are the focus of an innova-
and supplemental materials. The USG
tive, pilot program that equips experienced
the use of free textbooks through Rice
instruction (PSI) in study groups and lab
is the nation’s top university system in
students to provide peer supplemental
University’s OpenStax publishing house.
exercises. The project targets introductory
per semester,” said Dr. T.J. Arant, senior
may reduce these courses’ high DFW rates
Affairs and provost. “When students skip
assistant professor of biology, received a
leave school temporarily or even perma-
Peer Instruction grant for this project.
Reducing these costs can determine if a
the recently awarded NSF-IUSE Course-
“Textbooks cost several hundred dollars
biology and chemistry classes, where PSI
vice president for Academic and Student
of 30-40 percent. Dr. Cindy Achat-Mendes,
buying textbooks their grades suffer. Others
$25,000 USG Complete College Georgia
nently when they cannot afford textbooks.
She continues the PSI project as part of embedded Undergraduate Research
Experiences and USG STEM Education Improvement Plan grants.
A $23,000 grant from the USG Board of
Regents African-American Male Initiative funds GGC’s Elite Scholars Program. Led by Dr. C. Douglas Johnson, professor of leadership and management, and Dr.
Paul Grant, assistant professor of political science, the program improves retention
and graduation rates of African-American males by engaging them in high-impact
academic and co-curricular experiences. Grants from the USG Affordable Learning Georgia program are enabling faculty at GGC to develop free, online textbooks for classes like digital media, shown here.
8
I
Ge orgia Gwinne t t C ollege
Many Latino students attending GGC
are the first in their families to go to college, so their parents lack a frame of reference
for what college involves. Dr. Luis Mora,
