UIS to receive a $100,000 grant aimed at developing new programs to support minority students in STEM fields

The University of Illinois Springfield will receive a five-year $100,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant aimed at developing and implementing evidence-based programs that will support the academic success of underrepresented minority (URM) students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

Lucía Vázquez, associate dean of the UIS College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, will serve as one of the principal investigators on the project.

“Nationwide, minorities are underrepresented in the STEM workforce; also, of the students who start as STEM majors, about 40 percent of them switch majors and 23 percent drop out of college,” said Vázquez. “Given this situation and the prediction that the demand for professionals in STEM fields will increase in the near future (based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics), then it is imperative that we implement programs to promote the academic success of our minority students in these areas.”

The grant was awarded to the Illinois LSAMP STEM Pathway and Research Alliance (ILSPRA) through Chicago State University. ILSPRA is made up of a diverse group of 10 public and private universities and community colleges in urban and rural settings throughout the state of Illinois; these institutions will collaborate to achieve the objectives of this grant project.

One of the goals of the grant is to increase the participation of URM students in research through the establishment of faculty-student mentoring teams. A second goal is to provide students with academic support in gateway courses through the implementation of a learning assistant (LA) model, which has proven to be effective in increasing student performance. The end goal is to provide a variety of resources to ensure student academic success and to prepare the next generation of scientists.

At the end of the five-year project, the ILSPRA’s goal is to have significantly increased the number of URM students graduating with STEM degrees and joining the workforce or enrolling in STEM graduate programs.

“This is an imperative because there is a need to maintain the nation’s technological edge in an increasingly highly competitive global environment,” said the ILSPRA in their program summary.

In additional to developing actionable models to support URM STEM students, the ILSPRA team will also generate scholarly and peer-reviewed publications on broadening participation that will inform the entire STEM community on evidence-based practices that promote URM student success.

Local 5K race donates $2,000 to the UIS-SIU Medicine co-hosted Art Express class

The Springfield-based Fat Ass 5K & Street Party for Charity has donated $2,000 to the Art Express class co-hosted by the University of Illinois Springfield and the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.

The Art Express class, which began in 2012, helps individuals with memory loss and their care partners express their creativity through art projects. The class is held every Wednesday afternoon in the Banner Bunch room at Hope Presbyterian Church, located at 2211 Wabash Ave. in Springfield.

The money donated by the Fat Ass 5K will be used to cover the cost of art supplies and to help reimburse Hope Presbyterian Church for coffee supplies and materials purchased to hang the participant’s art.

Art Express is led by Karen Lee, UIS clinical instructor of Human Development Counseling, and Maggie Schaver of the SIU Medicine Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders. Graduate students from the UIS Human Development Counseling Program, community and church volunteers also assist with the class.

Persons with memory loss are referred to the Art Express class through the SIU Medicine Memory & Aging Clinic.

Read previous coverage about Art Express.

UIS Performing Arts Center awarded a $20,200 grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency

The University of Illinois Springfield Performing Arts Center, home of Sangamon Auditorium, has been awarded a $20,200 grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency (IACA) for operational support.

The August 24, 2018 grant will be utilized to support the UIS Performing Arts Education Connections Program, in addition to providing support for artistic programming that may not be able to rely on ticket sales to cover costs.

According to IACA, the grant is designed to provide support to established not-for-profit organizations that make a significant local, regional or statewide impact on the quality of life in Illinois. Grants recognize arts programming of high quality that is appropriate to and reflective of the communities served and that broaden opportunities for the public to participate in the arts.

“It is a wonderful statement of support from the Illinois Arts Council,” said Bryan Rives, director of UIS performing arts services. “These prestigious grants are reviewed and awarded by a committee of peers in the field of arts presenting, so it is an affirmation of the work we are doing in our community.”

One of the educational components the grant will support is the Class Acts Program, a series of daytime performances for preK-12 grade students in central Illinois. Last season, nearly 15,000 students attended ten artistic, educational and high quality performances put on by national touring companies at Sangamon Auditorium.

Overall, more than 72,000 people attended UIS Performing Arts Center events during the 2017-2018 season in the 2,005 seat Sangamon Auditorium and 350 seat Studio Theatre. The Performing Arts Center hosts nearly 150 events each year, including Broadway shows, and is home to the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Springfield Ballet Company and the UIS Theatre and Music Programs.

The Illinois Arts Council Agency was created as a state agency by the Illinois General Assembly in 1965 through legislation sponsored by Senators Paul Simon, Thomas McGloon, and Alan Dixon. The agency is governed by up to twenty-one private citizens chosen for their demonstrated commitment to the arts and appointed by the Governor.

For more information, contact Jen Tibbs, UIS Performing Arts Center coordinator of public information and marketing, at 217/206-8284 or jen.tibbs@uis.edu.