The University of Georgia will share a $12.3 million grant
with the University of Texas at Austin to develop and launch
a new collaborative pilot program designed to identify, implement,
and evaluate best practices for recruiting, retaining and graduating
Hispanic students. The grant is administered by the Hispanic
Scholarship Fund and supported by the Lilly Endowment, Inc.
“Georgia’s Hispanic population has grown 300 percent
in the last decade and is the third-fastest growing in the
country,” said UGA President Michael F. Adams. “Our
ability to identify and participate in innovative programs
that better serve the Hispanic community will benefit not only
our state, but the country.”
The University of Georgia was selected to conduct the pilot
program because of the burgeoning Hispanic population in Georgia,
where the university is situated. The program will be compared
to the practices in place at the University of Texas at Austin,
which has a long history of attracting and retaining students
from an established Hispanic community.
“As the number of Latino students in Texas continues
to rise and the university explores how it can improve graduation
rates among Hispanic students, relationships with organizations
such as the Hispanic Scholarship Fund are important to our
success,” said University of Texas at Austin president
Larry Faulkner. “We look forward to building on current
programs whose aims are to retain and support our Latino students.”
The grant was part of $22 million in funding announced today
at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. by the Hispanic Scholarship
Fund to commemorate the organization’s 30th anniversary.
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings was present
to commend the organization on its mission of building a college-going
culture among Hispanic families, ensuring more Hispanics enroll
in college, and providing support to help Hispanics earn their
degrees.
“In our first 30 years, we were fortunate to have tremendous
support from major corporations throughout America, and for
that we are grateful,” said HSF President and CEO Sara
Martinez Tucker. “Today, with major foundations joining
them, we will be able to continue to invest in the future of
some of our nation’s most promising young people, in
ways that will yield returns on those investments for many
years to come.”
Building the New Learning Environment
The new learning environment is an academic and intellectual
community on the campus of the University of Georgia humming
with the vibrancy of the true college experience—bright
and talented students working with brilliant faculty formally
in the classroom and informally over a cup of coffee or lounging
in the greenspace which stretches from one end of campus to
the other. It is a place which recognizes that new information
technologies are transforming traditional academic disciplines
and embraces those opportunities. |
The
University of Georgia was selected to conduct the pilot program for
which the $12.3 million grant was awarded because of the burgeoning
Hispanic population in Georgia.
