FOR
RELEASE: IMMEDIATELY
DATE: August 22, 2011
CONTACT: Lisa
Skari: (206) 870-3705, lskari@highline.edu
Highline Community College
receives major geoscience grants
National
Science Foundation awards nearly $225,000 in funding
DES
MOINES, Wash. — Highline Community College has been awarded nearly $225,000 in
grants from the National Science Foundation in support of geoscience education.
Highline
has played a role in trying to create and organize a national community of
geoscience faculty at community colleges and to increase enrollment of
underrepresented students in geoscience programs.
“The
grants support building a community of geoscience instructors at two-year
colleges so we can share ideas, talk about challenges facing students and
faculty and develop solutions to problems we have in common,” said Highline
Geology instructor Eric Baer.
A
grant for $192,684 will fund a professional development program where two-year
college geoscience faculty share successful strategies for teaching students
and preparing them for the geoscience workforce.
Highline’s partners include Austin
Community College in Texas; University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore.; and College
of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
The
second grant for $30,405 will help pay for 25 community college instructors to
attend the national meeting of Geologic Society of America in Minneapolis in
October 2011.
For
more information about the National Science Foundation, visit www.nsf.gov.
Highline
Community College was founded in 1961 as the first community college in King
County. With approximately 18,900 students and 350,000 alumni, it is one of the
state’s largest institutions of higher education. The college offers a wide
range of academic transfer and professional-technical education programs, with
day, evening and weekend classes. Alumni include former Seattle Mayor Norm
Rice, entrepreneur Junki Yoshida and Washington state
poet laureate Sam Green.
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