LSSU MARKS RECORD YEAR IN GRANTS, CONTRACTS SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – A large federal grant to strengthen teaching at the institution boosted Lake Superior State University’s grants and contracts for the past year to just over $3 million, a record for the school. The total includes a $1.8 million federal Title III “Strengthening Institutions” grant designed to improve teaching, learning, institutional management and fiscal stability through a faculty center for teaching and programs designed to help students complete their degrees. A number of grants are associated with environmental protection in our region and beyond, and several seek to strengthen the community through education. Some of the funds go to contracts that have been continuing for several years, such as a $6,500 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant to the LSSU Aquatic Research Laboratory for continued assessment of sea lamprey in the St. Mary’s River. “Students are directly involved in a number of the projects that are funded through these grants and contracts, especially those in the sciences, and that helps support our undergraduate research emphasis here at LSSU,” said Ken Hemming, LSSU Director of Sponsored Programs, “In addition, the Title III grant has an endowment component that will benefit the university well into the future.” “These funds support an impressive range of projects that have a great impact on our campus, our students and our community,” said LSSU President Tom Pleger. “They reinforce the experiential learning aspect that is found throughout our programs. Not only do these grants help redefine the classroom at LSSU, but they bolster economic activity in our local economy and beyond.” Projects in the sciences have always made up a large part of the grants and contracts at LSSU, and this year was no exception. Dr. Jason Garvon of LSSU’s School of Biological Sciences secured a $155,780 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to continue work to conserve the endangered Great Lakes piping plover through surveying, monitoring, captive rearing, and invasive species control and removal. LSSU students have been involved in this project for many years. Dr. Ashley Moerke, also with the School of Biological Sciences, facilitated a grant worth nearly $100,000 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Great Lakes Commission for the Little Rapids Restoration Project in the St. Mary’s River. The project includes an agreement between LSSU and the Great Lakes Commission for a habitat restoration project. As part of the grant, the university will lead ecological monitoring activities, coordinate with other agencies, and prepare semi-annual and final monitoring reports. Moerke also secured $51,172 through a larger Central Michigan University grant that will allow students at the LSSU Aquatic Research Laboratory to assist CMU field crews in sampling fish, invertebrate and chemical/physical variables at coastal wetland sites on lakes Huron, Michigan, Superior and the St. Mary’s River. Another professor from the LSSU School of Biological Sciences, Dr. Barbara Evans, wrote a grant for $7,436 for “Engaging Active STEM Education through Aquaponics” from the Michigan Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Partnership. With the grant, LSSU proposes to integrate its expertise in engineering, fisheries health and conservation biology to develop opportunities for introducing STEM content materials through aquaponics, a sustainable way to grow food that combines raising fish and plants symbiotically. Small aquaponics systems were acquired for two area high schools, along with a curriculum to introduce students to the associated subject material. Eventually, students will build a system extension or a separate aquaponics system. Not all of the grant funds are used on local projects. Dr. Kevin Kapuscinski of the School of Biological Sciences, a new professor at LSSU and co-director of the LSSU ARL, secured $190,112 from the Greenway Ecological Fund for a study he was part of on the Niagara River before coming to LSSU. While the work concerns the Niagara River, the study will provide opportunities for Kapuscinski’s students, who will assist in the project. Several of the LSSU grants have the potential to make a great impact on the community. For example, Heidi Witucki, director of LSSU’s Upward Bound program, brought in $388,856 – the third installment of a five-year award to continue Upward Bound’s presence in the Eastern Upper Peninsula. Upward Bound is a college preparatory program for low-income and first-generation students that has had a presence at LSSU for decades. Witucki and her staff oversee activities focused on retention, increased postsecondary enrollment and increased postsecondary persistence, with the aim to attain higher numbers of successful college graduates. Since 1965, Upward Bound has benefited thousands of EUP students in four school districts: Brimley, Pickford, Rudyard, and Sault Ste. Marie. Geralyn Narkiewicz, director of LSSU’s Learning Center, wrote a grant for nearly $100,000 that was funded by the State of Michigan’s King-Chavez Parks Initiative. This is the third year of a six-year award for the Select Student Support Services Grant, which the center uses to develop strategies and programs for academically and economically disadvantaged students attending LSSU. The project design is aimed at improving retention and graduation rates of 4-S targeted students. Shelley Wooley of the LSSU Native American Center secured grants of $15,000 and $3,500 from the Michigan Campus Compact. The first grant seeks to provide activities on campus that will encourage area students to finish high school and set their sights on higher education, while the second aims to increase volunteerism in the community by introducing LSSU students and community members to a variety of community services and agencies through “Good Neighbor Lunches” on campus. Focusing on literacy, Dr. Janice Repka of the School of English, Communication and Language Studies secured two grants through the Michigan Humanities Council. The first, for $2,880, brought in one poet and one prose author to read their work, speak to the community and provide master classes for aspiring writers. The second, for $500, helped support the annual Superior Children’s Book Festival, which is growing in popularity in the area. As part of the festival, LSSU played host to children’s book authors who participated in the event. These are just a few of the grants that LSSU secured over the past year. For more information on all of them, look through the LSSU Provost Reports at lssu.edu/provost or contact Hemming at 906-635-2272 or [email protected]. -LSSU-
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 22:14:15 +0000
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