Diversity Council Awards 6 Incentive Grants

The President’s Diversity Council has granted six awards for diversity incentive proposals for 2011, selected after rigorous review of 12 proposals.

“The quality of proposals remained strong in this third year of the program, which made a challenging review process for the selection team,” said UC Chief Diversity Officer Mitchel D. Livingston. “This year’s awards are strongly aligned with the university’s strategic priorities. This is further evidence that diversity can be incorporated in all aspects of the university.”

The incentive grant awards program is coordinated on behalf of the UC Diversity Council by Neville Pinto, vice provost and dean of the Graduate School.

The successful applications for 2011 include:

“Caring Through Sharing”
College of Nursing
The expansion and enhancement of the College of Nursing “Caring Through Sharing” mentoring program provides a two-weeks residential intensive academic summer bridge program for freshmen minority students admitted to the pre-nursing program. The summer bridge program gives participants an accelerated start in college and their adjustment to the regiment of college life. The mentoring program establishes a mentoring relationship between experienced professional nurses and novice student nurses.

Gen-1 Scholarship
College of Education, Criminal Justice & Human Services
Partnership for Achieving School Success
Over the 2011-12 academic year, the Partnership for Achieving School Success will scale up the Gen-1 Theme House in Stratford Heights to provide services for youth from minority and underrepresented populations, including up to 25 new freshmen residents, up to 25 sophomores and a similar number of upper-class students who are continuing in the expanded program for first-generation students. The scholarship will allow students to focus more time on academics instead of outside employment.

CEAS Outreach
College of Engineering & Applied Science
The College of Engineering & Applied Science proposes to increase the number of ethnic minority students who apply to UC prior to the scholarship deadline. CEAS will market to high school students, guidance counselors, and math and science teachers at Cincinnati Public Schools. Additionally, the college will offer an ACT Workshop for students participating in the Summer Institute and Summer Enrichment programs. The proposal will also pay for senior high school participants to take the ACT test.

Summer Math & Science Institute
College of Arts & Sciences
Gen-1 Theme House
College of Engineering & Applied Science
In partnership with the Emerging Ethnic Engineers (E3) summer bridge program, the College of Arts & Sciences will help students build a strong foundation in the core science courses. This grant allows a successful program to be revived for approximately 20 students.

SURF Stipends
College of Medicine
The funded proposal will provide stipend support to increase the number of underrepresented minority students who participate in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) research training program at the College of Medicine. The college seeks to increase the number of students from historically black institutions who participate in SURF programs and subsequently apply to UC’s medical and graduate programs.

HEMI Scholarship
College of Education, Criminal Justice & Human Services
The Higher Education Mentoring Initiative (HEMI) is a partnership between Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann, Hamilton County Job and Family Services, the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, and Great Oaks. The partial award will help support a scholarship in this program.