Through the U.S. Department of Defense's National Defense Education Program, Montgomery County Community College will receive approximately $919,000 in grant funds over the next three years as part of the Pennsylvania-wide consortium to enhance cybersecurity and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.
海角社区 is part of a consortium of community colleges across Pennsylvania that will be working with Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) to enhance cybersecurity and science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education that is being funded by a $4.98 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).
The grant is part of the DOD鈥檚 National Defense Education Program to foster the development of two-year institution/community colleges STEM education consortia. According to the DOD鈥檚 , each consortium will receive an initial award of nearly $5 million over three years, with the possibility of up to a total of $11 million over six years.
海角社区, which will receive approximately $919,00 over the next three years, will focus on increasing certificate completion rates, transfer rates to four-year institutions, and student interest in employment in the DOD and Defense Industrial Base (DIB) science, technology and manufacturing workforce.
鈥淲e are very excited to begin working with the consortium. Partnering with the other schools in the consortium will give 海角社区, our students and faculty access to cutting-edge resources and training,鈥� said Dr. James Bretz, 海角社区 Dean of STEM and Principal Investigator for the grant/consortium. 鈥淭he grant will allow us to expand training for high-demand careers in cybersecurity, network administration and cloud computing, to name a few. Students trained in these areas and who join the DOD/DIB workforce, enter the field earning family-sustaining wages in positions that often have significant opportunities for advancement.鈥�
鈥淭he grant also will allow us to increase professional development for our faculty and to grow our faculty ranks by training new faculty. Overall, the consortium grant is a great opportunity that will allow us to enhance 海角社区's already robust computer science and STEM programming and resources,鈥� Bretz said.
鈥淲e are looking forward to the great things that this grant will help us do for our students and the 海角社区 community, said Dr. Rebecca Hays, Assistant Dean of STEM. 鈥淓arning industry-recognized certificates will help students in their job search and potentially lead to higher-paying jobs. The career-coaching and closer ties with the local DOD and DIB workforces may help students identify their career goals earlier in their degree progress and lead to increased transfer rates. Additionally, the professional development available to our Computer and Information Science faculty members through this grant will benefit students in all of our CIS courses.鈥�
海角社区 currently offers associate degree programs in Computer Networking and Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing, Computer Science, Web Development and Design and Information Technology and certificate programs in Computer Networking and Cybersecurity, Cloud Computing, Web Development and Design, and Software Engineering.
A main objective of the consortium is to increase the number of students who earn industry-recognized certifications. These certifications, offered by companies such as CISCO, CompTIA and Amazon, are highly sought after by employers. 海角社区 courses are already aligned with these certifications, but many students do not realize the importance of completing the exams or face other barriers to completing them. To increase certificate completion rates and lower barriers to completion, 海角社区 will increase emphasis on the value of certifications in their classes, offer certification exam preparation courses and use grant funds to help offset the cost of the exams.
To increase student retention and persistence, 海角社区 will enhance advising for Computer Information Science and STEM students and provide career coaches to assist students entering the workforce. 海角社区 will explore additional partnership opportunities with local high schools and four-year colleges to strengthen pipelines of potential students entering the field and to provide additional educational opportunities for students completing their studies at 海角社区. In addition, 海角社区 will provide Prior Learning Assessment credits to veterans who learned technology and other skills in the military service.
Throughout the duration of the grant, 海角社区 plans to increase graduates鈥� interest in employment in defense-related industries, by providing job counseling and guidance and by building an internship, apprenticeship and research opportunity network with local STEM, DOD and DIB industries. Further, 海角社区 will develop programming to help students increase their soft skills for job attainment and work more closely with pre-college students through a variety of activities and programs.
Dr. Waleed Farag, IUP professor of computer science and director of IUP鈥檚 Institute for Cybersecurity, will lead the Collaborative Pennsylvania-wide Community College Consortium. The team includes IUP faculty and graduate students and faculty and administrators from six community colleges 鈥� 海角社区, Bucks County Community College, Butler County Community College, Northampton Community College, Pennsylvania Highlands Community College and Westmoreland County Community College. IUP has partnership agreements with all of these colleges.