HispanicBusiness

Otero Junior College has been awarded two federal grants totaling $10.3 million to help with the school's science, technology, engineering and math education program.

The grants were awarded by the U.S. Department of Education on Oct. 1.

President Jim Rizzuto said both grants are through the department of education's Hispanic Serving Institutions Science Technology Engineering and Math grant program.

The department of education awarded $100 million last month to colleges and universities throughout the country to help increase the number of Hispanic and other low-income students attaining degrees in STEM fields.

Rizzuto said OJC's grants are each for a five-year period and include about $4.4 million for Success in STEM, a program that will allow the college to develop additional STEM courses and to update technology and equipment on campus.

Rizzuto said plans for the grant funds include the creation of a math and science learning center that will be adjacent to the OJC Wheeler Library and include improvements to the college's Student Success Center.

The second grant of $5.9 million is a cooperative grant with Trinidad State Junior College and will enable the two community colleges, through the Semillas de (Seeds of) STEM program to work together to increase the number of students completing degree programs in the program's fields and, ultimately, transferring to four-year institutions. OJC's portion of that grant will total about $3 million.

David Cockrell, associate vice president of instruction at OJC, will be the grant manager.

"We plan to work hard finding today's college-age students who want to pursue STEM careers; in addition, we need to start recruiting now for future students. The first place we will look is at our area K-12 schools," Cockrell said in a press release.

The grants also will help with the school's retention rates, Rizzuto said.

OJC is ranked No. 2 for the highest retention rate for community colleges in Colorado, with a retention rate of 47 percent, but Rizzuto said the rate is still of great concern to the college's administrators.

"This rate may seem good in comparison to other colleges in the state; however, we view it as a great concern and hope to put in place additional resources to help students succeed," Rizzuto said.

Some of those resources to be made available to students will include increased remediation services through additional tutoring and creating a summer bridge program specifically geared to STEM courses.

Rizzuto said the college plans to create five new positions to help meet the grants' goals. In addition, up to $500,000 in new equipment and technology upgrades will be made on campus and a $600,000 capital construction investment will be made in Wheeler Library.