GRANTS - The New Mexico State University-Grants campus learned on Sept. 3 that it will receive a $2, 872,518 grant from the U.S. Department of Education under the “Strengthening Institutions - Hispanics Serving Institutions Program.”

The five-year grant will be initiated with first year funding of $574,578 to expand educational opportunities for and improve the academic attainments of Hispanic students at the college.

Current statistics show that NMSU-Grants has a 38 percent Hispanic student body with an 83 percent minority share. Hispanic instructors comprise 9 percent of the faculty. Other interesting statistics are a 77 percent low-income portion of the students and a 72 percent first generation of college students.

An abstract from the college states, “With just 10 percent of adults in Cibola County holding bachelors degrees and a family poverty rate of 31 percent, many area residents look to NMSU-Grants as a way out of hardship. Subsequently, institutional enrollment has nearly doubled since 2004, with particular increases in web-based courses.

“Serious institutional gaps, however, prevent us from acting as a gateway to high-demand educational programs and careers, particularly for our growing number of Hispanic, at-risk students.”

The document goes on to point out that, despite heavy demand for professionals in science, technology, engineering and math fields, and opportunities for transfer to NMSU-Las Cruces, only 3.6 percent of Grants' Hispanic students have selected STEM majors. Only 21 of Hispanic students have transferred into NMSU-Las Cruces STEM degree programs since 2003.

One problem facing the local college has been a somewhat haphazard development of web-based courses, leaving gaps in online and blended courses leading to STEM degrees. Infrastructure deficiencies, including outdated science instrumentation, technology limitations and inadequate facilities undermine the college's ability to connect Hispanic, low-income students to STEM learning environments, according to the abstract.

NMSU-Grants proposed in its grant application to develop on-line services built on improved technological infrastructure and establish outreach center computer labs throughout the region, as well as on campus.

Such improvements will support blended STEM curricula, including newly developed introductory courses in environmental technology, energy technology and engineering technology, which are all areas of career growth in the state.

The U.S. Department of Education program defines its purpose as…”to expand educational opportunities for, and improve the academic attainment of Hispanic students; and expand and enhance the academic offering, program quality, and institutional stability of colleges and universities that are educating the majority of Hispanic college students and helping large numbers of Hispanic college students and other low-income individuals complete post secondary degrees.”