Merced College awarded $1.5 million grant to train instructors

Merced College has been awarded a $1.5 million grant through the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, officials said Monday.

Merced College was one of 43 awarded the grant out of the 86 colleges that applied, according to a news release.

“We are very pleased to receive this grant, which will serve our students well as we continue to focus on providing programs and services that guarantee student success,” Susan Walsh, acting president of Merced College, said in a news release.

The Basic Skills Student Outcomes and Transformation Grant will allow Merced College to provide innovative approaches to remediation and placement, which could increase student completion of transfer-level courses, according to instructional Dean Vince Piro.

The grant is set to help train instructors to teach an accelerated English pathway; to create a new assessment process, which gives students more credit for high school performance; and to consolidate academic support services into one building, Piro said.

English professor Sean Epstein-Corbin, a major contributor to the grant application, said, “This grant demonstrates (Merced College’s) continuing commitment to student equity and making pathways to transfer courses easier to navigate for our students, especially underrepresented students.”

This story was originally published May 2, 2016 at 3:37 PM with the headline "Merced College awarded $1.5 million grant to train instructors."