Bunker Hill Community College Wins Major State Grant to Accelerate Student Success
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Bunker Hill Community College has received a grant of $200,802 from a Commonwealth of Massachusetts program designed to reward campus efforts to improve educational outcomes and to spur further innovation, BHCC President Mary L. Fifield announced today. The College placed among the top three recipients in a competitive process involving the state’s 29 colleges and universities. Grants ranging from $53,800 to $233,417 went to 18 successful applicants. An external review panel evaluated proposals and made recommendations for funding.
The funding was provided through the Performance Incentive Fund, a cornerstone of the Vision Project, the state’s master plan to establish Massachusetts as a national leader in public higher education reform. The Vision Project is premised on the belief that Massachusetts needs the best educated citizenry and workforce in the nation and that it is the job of public higher education to achieve that result. The Performance Incentive Fund encourages participating institutions to generate the fundamental components of this major reform program.
Bunker Hill Community College’s proposal is rooted in the College’s own goals as well as in those of the Vision Project. The proposal focuses on three existing programmatic activities that are currently showing impressive retention and completion rates, as well as on two new initiatives, one designed to support college completion for generations of students to come, and a second that will result in new academic programs in high-demand fields as well as a “Learn to Earn” component in existing programs.
Through BHCC’s winning proposal, at least 3,000 students will participate in a new college readiness program intended to increase the number of new high school graduates enrolling at the College by 10% by 2016. Another 10,000 students will take part in one or more of three initiatives that address the graduation and student success rates, resulting in a semester-to-semester retention increase of 10% and a year-to-year retention increase of 10% by 2016.
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About Bunker Hill Community College
With more than 50 years of academic excellence, Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) is Massachusetts' largest community college, annually welcoming a diverse community of around 16,000 students. With campuses in Charlestown and Chelsea, BHCC extends its reach across several locations in Greater Boston. The College offers associate degrees and certificates, early college and dual enrollment, community education, corporate training, and industry-specific training programs. BHCC is celebrated for its diversity, boasting a student body where 65% identify as people of color and more than half are women. The College also embraces a global perspective, with over 600 international students representing 90 countries and conversing in more than 65 languages. Our commitment to diversity is further reflected in BHCC's designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI).