Grant Funded Program Encourages Students to "Dream Big but Plan Accordingly"
By Julie Jessen
Chico State Enterprises has been awarded a highly valued Title V grant from the U.S. Department of Education. “Adelante: a Postbaccalaureate Pipeline Program” received funding of $3 million dollars over five years, beginning late fall of 2019.
Adelante’s multi-initiative program encourages students to dream big but plan accordingly. The goal of the program is to increase the number of Hispanic and low-income students pursuing and attaining their graduate degrees and teaching credentials through a well-coordinated network of academic support programs designed to raise GPAs and graduation rates, and improve the research and writing skills that facilitate students’ aspirations and transitions to graduate school.
According to Sharon Barrios, the grant’s co-principal investigator and CSU, Chico Interim Dean of Graduate Studies, the Adelante program establishes an academic support plan from a student’s sophomore year to the completion of the graduate degree (and beyond). This includes a faculty/graduate student mentoring, tutoring, and advising in hubs of 10 students; courses and workshops to foster personal and academic growth, leadership skills, and financial literacy; a faculty-mentored research program; and a dedicated writing and research commons.
The second component of Adelante strengthens and diversifies Chico’s graduate programs through an extensive outreach plan (“Grow Our Own”) that connects Latinx and low-income students with graduate program faculty and grad students; revised curriculum and program options that are more closely aligned with the educational interests of non-feeder majors (i.e. those without corresponding master’s programs); and support for faculty to develop inclusive and equity-minded practices in teaching.
“This is a double win for Chico”, says grant co-principal investigator and Dean of Undergraduate Education, Kate McCarthy. “As we build the pipeline to graduate school we’ll also be providing critical support for the retention and success of Latinx and low-income undergraduates. We’re very excited and eager to get going.”
