NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF HBCU
TITLE III ADMINISTRATORS, INC.
2013 Technical Assistance Workshop
June 19-21, 2013
Best Practices and The Effective Use
of Title III Funding
Andrea L. Tyler, Ph. D. , Tennessee State University
Sessi Aboh, Ph. D. , Tennessee State University
Marjorie Seward, M. Ed. , Tennessee State University
STEM Graduate
Outreach, Research,
Leadership, and
Training Program
Presented by Andrea L. Tyler, Ph. D.
Director, Graduate STEM Research
TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY
Nashville, TN
Program Creation
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Research suggest that too few students,
specially African American students, enter and
successfully exit graduate STEM
programs.
No infrastructure in place to adequately
support graduate STEM majors.
Provide a multifaceted approach that could
serve and support graduate STEM students.
Such an approach can only be created and
sustained by the creation of a resource located
within the School of Graduate Studies &
Research.
University Alignment
Access and
Diversity Plan
2011-2015
STRATEGIC
PLAN
2010‐2015
PROGRAM ALIGNMENT
Complete
College
Tennessee Act
of 2010
Objectives
1.
Provide a support resource that could
create, coordinate, and sustain support
services from graduate school entry
through completion
2.
Improve the completion rate of African
American STEM graduate students by 5%
annually.
Program Model-Tinto's (1993)
Dimensions of Institutional Action
Institutional Commitment to Students
Effective retention programs are committed to the
students they serve. They put student welfare
ahead of other institutional goals.
 Educational Commitment
Effective retention programs are first and
foremost committed to the education of all, not
just some, of their students
 Social and Intellectual Community
Effective retention programs are committed to the
development of supportive social and educational
communities in which all students are integrated
as competent members.

University Partners
Biology Department
 Chemistry Department
 College of Engineering
 Career Success Center
 Tutoring Center
 Title III Office

Program Activities
Transition
assistance
Counseling and
advising
Monitoring and
early warning
Early contact
and community
building
Academic
involvement
and support
Accountability/Assessment
*Evaluate the effectiveness of Title III
programming through an internal program
evaluator, and input from student survey.
*Title III students will also provide input on


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Transitional concepts
Pre/Post-graduate study
Career opportunities
Research experiences
Academic engagement
Mentoring
Anticipated Outcome
Support institutional efforts towards
increasing the educational attainment level
of underrepresented and targeted subpopulations in graduate STEM disciplines.
Increase the number of supported African
American students in STEM areas at
Tennessee State University.
Academic Collaborative: Enhancing
Undergraduate Education Through Innovative
Technologies
Presented by Marjorie Seward, M.Ed.
Associate Director, Title III Program Administration
TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY
Nashville, TN
Best Practices and Strategies for Title III
Funded Programs and Initiatives
This presentation is centered around the Title III focus area, Academic Quality,
which is also one of the key performance indicators in Tennessee State
University’s 2010-2015 Strategic Plan. The focus is on best practices and strategies for
Title III funded programs and initiatives.
During the latter part of the previous grant cycle, the state of Tennessee
implemented the 2010 Complete College Tennessee Act. The Act requires state
colleges and universities to demonstrate improvements in retention and
graduation rates; and ties higher education funding to such outcomes-based
improvements.
In support of the new state mandate and the federal government mandate to
downsize and reduce cost, collaboration and partnership became a key element
to integrating Title III funding into the university fabric as the HBCU proposal was
being developed.
History
In the previous five year cycle, Tennessee State University distributed its
HBCU Title III resources among seven (17) activity projects across various
university departments; each with its own set of objectives and its own
set of personnel.
The projects became increasingly harder to manage.
Every project hired an account specialists/bookkeeper to manage its
financial records as well as other staff to carry out the programmatic
objectives of the grant.
Translation: Heavy personnel budget
Data collection and timely reporting was even more difficult to
manage.
New Funding Cycle
Title III funds for this 2012-2017 grant period focuses on expectations outlined
in each of the university’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) with an overall
goal to increase retention and graduation rates. The KPIs are:
Access and Diversity
Academic Quality and Student Success
Business Friendly Practices
Revenue Generation/Research/Resourcefulness
Engagement
THE COLLABORATIVE MODEL
Based on these key performance indicators, the TSU HBCU grant was
developed and is composed of four (4) projects.
The Academic Collaborative project is one component of the grant. It
consist of five (5) activities, all with a common objective to improve student
learning, but with different strategies and outcome expectations.
Under its umbrella are the following activities:
College of Business
College of Liberal Arts (Integrated Arts, Media & Music)
College of Engineering
College of Education
College of Health Sciences (Division of Nursing)
HBCU Grant Implementation and Structure
All personnel is hired and managed by the Title III Program Administration office
which eliminates the need for additional personnel. This office processes all
administrative and budgetary paperwork freeing up the Principle Investigators
(PIs) to focus on meeting objectives, observe and document outcomes.
Principle Investigators (PIs) integrate tasks into their normal day-to-day
activities utilizing existing faculty and staff which means no additional work just
for the grant.
Progress Reports are submitted to one designated PI for each project, then
consolidated into one report for the group.
Each activity has a small travel budget for the activity director to attend
conference and related seminars.
*
Faculty development and construction/renovation, components of the
Institutional Management project, are also managed by the Program
Administration Office. Those were removed from individual activities and
developed separately to supports all activities.
*
Every grant year has a different focus. The main focus in year 01 is on
Liberal Arts who has the largest budget allocated to upgrade technology,
renovate 100 classrooms, and train faculty. Next year the focus will
change and another activity will be fully funded to meet their goals and
objectives as outlined in the grant.
Example: Engineering is allocated a small amount this year to
cover travel and a minimal amount for supplies. They are
targeted to be fully funded next year to complete their goals
and objectives.
Expectations
Increased Departmental Collaboration
PIs are more focused
Reduced Personnel
Improved Budgeting and
Tracking
Improved Data
Collection and
Reporting
Improved
Recordkeeping
Academic Collaborative
Project Description
Enhancing undergraduate education through innovative technologies describes
five innovative, technology-intensive components.
These activities focus on using technology to enable innovations in pedagogy
that can increase learning. Although many innovations are possible without
technology, the capabilities of new approaches to teaching and learning make it
easier and more practical.
Traditionally, courses have been comprised of lectures and
laboratory sessions.
Research indicates the traditional approach is not effective for all
undergraduates because students have different ways of learning and benefit
from different educational approaches (National research Council
(NRC),1999a).
Technology can allow teaching and
learning to be transformative.
Instructors who use technology to
implement new approaches to
teaching and learning typically play a
critical role
deciding how and when to intervene,
to enable and support learning.
Project Goal
The objective of the collaborative project is to improve
student learning, retention, persistence, and graduation
percentages across and within participating units by 5%
annually.
Although the objective is the same for all components
of the project, they each use different strategies and
expect different outcomes.
The outcome measure is improved student
performance.
Description of Activities
COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
The College of Business realized that a significant percentage of African American
students in the business discipline were failing to complete core courses successfully
on the first attempt. This hindered students from moving forward in their chosen
Program adversely influencing retention and graduation rates as well as student
enrollment.
Additionally, the college had to address the issue of course delivery. There were no
hybrid courses being offered to accommodate student ‘s other commitments to work
and family.
Strategy: Redesign core courses with high rates of (in excess of 30%) D-FW final grade averages by infusing technology based instruction and problem based
learning.
Increase course offerings delivered in an alternative format through distance
education programs (hybrid and online).
Expected Outcomes
The expected outcome is improved student learning in the College of
Business core courses as reflected in final grade averages by 10% annually.
Improved academic instruction in business and technology programs in which
African Americans are underrepresented.
COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS
(INTEGRATED ARTS, MEDIA AND MUSIC)
Faculty members in the College of Liberal Arts have experimented with
collaborative team teaching and feel well prepared to provide the
leadership for efforts to enhance undergraduate education through
collaborative teaching and learning with an emphasis on problem based
learning. Challenges faced were the need to enhance the infrastructure
at the University to support collaborative teaching and learning and
problem-based learning, and the need for further faculty development
training.
Strategy: Provide the infrastructure to support collaborative
teaching and learning and innovative technologies by updating
classrooms with state of the art technology and equipment
conductive to collaborative teaching and learning.
Provide support to improve faculty development.
Expected Outcomes
Enhanced
Collaborative teaching
and learning and
problem-based learning
will both be the mode
of instruction.
Enhanced Classroom
with state of the art
equipment to
support collaborative
learning.
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
The College of Engineering activity aims to provide well trained engineers to
meet the critical demand for engineers and technicians in the field of
Mechatronics, the field of design, operating, and servicing mechanical and
electronic devices in automation for building products.
Additionally, improve the engineering curriculum and student learning as
reflected by performance on the field test.
Strategy: To provide a certification program and curriculum for engineering
students that will enhance the knowledge and skills of engineering students
in the merging field of mechatronics by integrating the mechatronics training
program in the electrical and mechanical engineering curriculum.
Expected Outcomes
70% of engineering students will have hands-on experience on newly
acquired equipment during the funding cycle.
90% of the students in electrical and mechanical engineering who take the
exam will be certified in mechatronics annually.
Three (3) classrooms in the College of Engineering will be equipped with
innovative learning tools for instructions.
Question & Answer
Contact Information:
Andrea L. Tyler, Ph.D.
atyler2@tnstate.edu
Marjorie Seward, M.Ed.
mseward@tnstate.edu
Sessi Adoh, Ph. D.
saboh@tnstate.edu