Bunker Hill Community College Earns Prestigious $2 Million Federal Grant

BOSTON, Oct. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) is one of just 39 colleges and universities across the country to receive a U.S. Department of Education Title III grant under the Strengthening Institutions Program. The $2,232,943 grant over five years will enhance a major initiative at the College that employs both technology and personal attention to promote student success in educational, career and life goals. Just one other institution of higher education in Massachusetts was among the recipients.

The grant will fund the project "From Dreams to Reality: BHCC LifeMap," which aims to improve student engagement, achievement, persistence, retention and completion, beginning in the first semester and culminating in graduation and beyond. The project will enable 22 major academic departments in the College to redesign curriculum to embed success pathways in each study program and will support development of a comprehensive suite of services including diagnostic assessment and academic, career, financial and transfer coaching.

"This grant will allow BHCC to integrate LifeMap more effectively into our curriculum and student life with the overarching goal of establishing outcomes and developing toolkits of active teaching strategies, assignments and assessments," said Academic Affairs and Student Services Vice President James F. Canniff, who will serve as the project director. "Services will be located in the newly designed LifeMap Commons, making this shared space the hub of a suite of unified support services both onsite and online, delivered in a holistic, coordinated approach."

A previous Title III grant enabled Bunker Hill Community College to develop highly successful learning communities, which transformed the College's approach to teaching and learning and resulted in an increase of 13% in the retention rate. The impact of the learning communities was recognized by the New England Board of Higher Education with a regional excellence award. 

The Department of Education's Strengthening Institutions Program helps postsecondary schools expand their capacity to serve low-income students by providing funds to improve and strengthen their academic quality, institutional management and fiscal stability, as well as build a framework to help students complete college.

Bunker Hill Community College is the largest community college in Massachusetts. The College enrolls more than 14,000 students on two campuses and at three satellite locations. BHCC is one of the most diverse institutions of higher education in Massachusetts. Sixty-seven percent of the students are people of color and more than half of BHCC's students are women. The College also enrolls more than 800 international students who come from approximately 100 countries and speak more than 75 languages.

Media Contact:
Karen M. Norton, Executive Director of Integrated Marketing and Communications
Bunker Hill Community College, Boston, MA 02129
Phone: 617-228-2177; Email: kmnorton@bhcc.mass.edu

SOURCE Bunker Hill Community College