WATERVILLE, May 24--On May 18, 2010, The Council of
Independent Colleges (CIC) and the Walmart Foundation announced
that Thomas College is one of only 30 colleges nationwide (and
the only college in New England) to receive a 2010 Walmart
College Success Award. The $100,000 award will assist the
College in creating programming designed to enhance retention of
first-generation students.
Through the Walmart College Success Awards program, 30 CIC
member colleges and universities, selected through a competitive
application process, will receive substantial grants to help
strengthen exemplary programs that support the education of
first-generation students. The newly selected 30 institutions
and the 20 initial College Success Award recipients, which were
selected in June 2008, will work together as a network to assist
first-generation college students, learn from one another, and
serve as models for other colleges and universities.
Thomas College traditionally has enrolled a high percentage
of first-generation college students and currently has a student
population consisting of 72 percent first-generation students.
The College will build on two successful initiatives, a
quantitative literacy course and an academic coaching program.
The quantitative literacy course promotes the development of
mathematical and statistical skills critical to success in the
first year of college. Academic coaching provides individualized
academic support to students. In the past, both initiatives have
increased the retention of first-generation students
significantly. The CIC/Walmart College Success Award will allow
the College to offer a one-week summer pre-college program--when
participating students will complete a quantitative literacy
course and attend a series of workshops--followed by ongoing
individualized coaching by a staff member of Retention Services
at the College. Each first-generation student who successfully
completes the pre-college element of the program will be
eligible for a book scholarship.
According to Dean of Retention Services Debbie Cunningham,
the award will enhance the College's highly successful academic
support services program. "When students have an early
opportunity to build a history of success, they are more likely
to be successful and to graduate," said Cunningham. "The CIC/Walmart
College Success Award allows us to provide an additional
opportunity for students to do just that."
The CIC received a grant from the Walmart Foundation to
support this year's cohort of award recipients. Twenty CIC
member institutions with programs that show the greatest promise
of increasing retention of the largest number of
first-generation students were selected to receive grants of
$100,000. Ten institutions that have established worthy projects
with a smaller scope of impact or are more experimental in
nature will receive $50,000 awards. All award winners have an
undergraduate enrollment that includes at least 30 percent
first-generation students among the most recent classes of
first-year students.
"The 20 colleges and universities selected for the initial
awards in 2008 have done a great job in rising to the challenges
of retaining and graduating first-generation students," said
Walmart Foundation president Margaret McKenna. "The Walmart
Foundation is proud to provide the opportunity for an additional
30 institutions to participate in the program and contribute to
the growing body of knowledge on how best to support these
students."
In announcing the award winners, CIC President Richard Ekman
said, "We are delighted by the recognition that this second
grant from the Walmart Foundation gives to the role played by
nonprofit private colleges in educating first-generation
students. Much attention has been focused recently on higher
education as a key to making the United States workforce
stronger and the country more competitive in the 21st century
world economy. As the federal government and philanthropic
leaders call for increased degree completion in higher
education, small and mid-sized private institutions are an
underutilized resource in this effort. Private colleges also
enroll comparable or higher percentages of lower-income and
first-generation students to public institutions and they
require far less subsidy by state governments to succeed in
meeting these national goals. Most importantly, nonprofit
private institutions have moved beyond a focus on access to a
record of unmatched success in retaining and graduating
low-income and first-generation students."
Citing data from the American Association of Community
Colleges, Ekman noted that more than six million students a year
enroll for credit at the nation's community colleges. However,
only 26 percent actually transfer to a four-year college. In
addition, according to the National Association of Independent
Colleges and Universities, the six-year graduation rate of
first-generation students at public four-year institutions is
only 44 percent compared with 61 percent at private colleges and
universities. "In short, if we are to achieve the ambitious
national goal of increased numbers of college graduates, the
lessons learned from the experiences of private colleges will
need to be heeded by national policymakers and others," Ekman
stressed.
The Walmart College Success Awards program will include a
conference in 2011, online networking opportunities, and a final
publication on best practices from both cohorts to be
disseminated at the end of the grant period in 2013.
The 20 $100,000 award winners are: Alma College, Mich.;
Alverno College, Wis.; Berea College, Ky.; Catawba College,
N.C.; Clark Atlanta University, Ga.; College of Notre Dame of
Maryland; DePaul University, Ill.; Elizabethtown College, Penn.;
Franklin College, Ind.; Guilford College, N.C.; Lynchburg
College, Va.; Mars Hill College, N.C.; Mercyhurst College,
Penn.; Mills College, Calif.; Notre Dame de Namur University,
Calif.; Rosemont College, Penn.; Stetson University, Fla.;
Stevenson University, Md.; Thomas College, Maine; and University
of St. Francis, Ill.
The ten $50,000 award winners are: Cardinal Stritch
University, Wis.; Chaminade University of Honolulu, Hawaii;
Defiance College, Ohio; Emmanuel College, Mass.; Eureka College,
Ill.; Heritage University, Wash.; McKendree University, Ill.;
Saint Augustine's College, N.C.; Wabash College, Ind.; and
Woodbury University, Calif.
The programs offered at these 30 institutions represent the
wide range of approaches to working with first-generation
students. Some institutions focus on the unique needs of a
particular subset of first-generation students, such as Hispanic
students, commuter students, transfer students from community
colleges, or students pursuing a teaching career. A number of
the award recipients, including Thomas, offer transitional
summer programs for incoming students that help prepare them for
college-level work and life away from home. Others provide
services such as mentoring, tutoring, career development, and
providing scholarships and stipends to help ensure success for
first-generation students. For more information about the
Walmart College Success Awards and the programs of the 30
winners, visit the CIC website at
www.cic.edu/projects_services/walmart_college_success.asp.
About Thomas College: Thomas College, founded in 1894, is a
private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine. Thomas offers
a rich liberal arts and professional studies curriculum for
undergraduate and graduate students in a wide variety of
programs including arts and sciences, business, criminal
justice, education and technology. Thomas is focused on
providing an accessible and affordable quality education to any
student who is motivated to work hard and succeed. Thomas
provides a supportive learning environment for all students—many
of whom are first generation college students—and encourages
them to discover and fulfill their unique potential. Thomas is
the only college in the nation that offers its graduates
Guaranteed Job Placement within six months of graduation. For
more information about Thomas College, please visit
www.thomas.edu.
For
additional information, contact Katie Greenlaw at
pr@thomas.edu or
207.859.1319.
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