The federal government has given several major grants to Loyola Marymount University in support of the school’s commitment to recruiting underserved minorities, low-income and first-generation college students interested in pursuing careers in science and teaching.
LMU this semester was awarded three highly competitive grants totaling almost $3 million – two by the National Science Foundation and another from the Department of Education – to train young scientists and teachers in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields, as well as the social sciences.
“LMU is doing many things to recruit and then ensure the success of underserved minorities and first-generation college students,” said President David W. Burcham. “These successful programs are another place where our rhetoric becomes reality.”
The grants go hand-in-hand with LMU’s just-announced $100 million scholarship endowment campaign, as well as other longstanding LMU efforts to recruit and support low-income students, particularly first-generation college attendees, as well as under-represented minorities who go to Los Angeles-area high schools.
The latest awards are:
• A McNair Scholarship Program grant for $1.1 million to be used over five years to support and mentor 25 first-generation/low-income and underrepresented minority students annually to pursue a doctoral degree in the sciences, math, engineering, economics, psychology, political science or sociology.
These Department of Education grants draw applications from throughout the country. Funding nationwide was cut this year, however, eliminating one-third of the existing programs, said Richard G. Plumb, dean of the Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering. LMU received the highest score possible in the nationwide grant competition and was one of just 17 new schools to receive grants, he said.
• An NSF grant for $590,000 to create annual scholarships for up to 36 low-income students who are pursuing STEM majors. These scholarship funds from the NSF will support LMU’s ACCESS program, a mentoring and support structure designed to prepare young scientists.
Through private scholarships, summer programs and year-round mentoring, the original ACCESS helped prepare low-income freshmen for the demands of college life. It has been expanded to include all phases of undergraduate education.
• A NSF Noyce Scholarship grant for $1.2 million over five years to train gifted college math and science students to become teachers in under-served school districts. The program recruits students with an aptitude and passion for math and science through $20,000 in scholarships and paid summer internships.
The Noyce Scholars will take part in teacher-training classes and a mentor network that will begin at LMU and continue through their early careers in the classroom.
Burcham in October launched a three-year, $100 million scholarship initiative in an effort to maintain diversity at the university as well as relieve the increasing financial pressure felt by families and students seeking an LMU education.
LMU has been lauded several times by the Education Trust for being among the best schools in the nation at graduating African-American and Hispanic students, with rates far exceeding the national averages..