Xavier University of Louisiana (via zula.edu)
From Xavier University of Louisiana
Xavier University of Louisiana has received a three-year, $500,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support initiatives designed to expand its community college student pipeline and to establish a new summer bridge program.
The grant will fund ongoing university efforts to engage and enroll more community college students by streamlining its transfer administrative process, clarifying course and major requirements, and reducing any course-related hindrances to graduating in four-years.
It will also fund a new pilot summer immersion program, Mellon Humanities Summer Scholars Initiative at Xavier, which will provide potential community college transfer students an opportunity to “test drive” the university prior to matriculating.
During the six-week residential bridge program, specifically target potential transfers in the humanities, participants will benefit from experiential classroom learning, an introduction to research, mentoring by college faculty, counseling, and career development. Upon successful completion of the program, the students are guaranteed conditional admission to Xavier after completing their two-year degree requirements.
“We are grateful to The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for supporting Xavier’s continuing efforts to make certain that its institutional infrastructure, culture, and policies are optimized to meet the needs of the community college transfer population,” said Dr. Anne McCall, XU Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs. “We are also pleased that they are funding our new summer immersion program, which is designed to develop a deepened and informed appreciation for the humanities as a field of study among community college students.”
“The success enjoyed by Xavier students is well-documented, and looking forward we hope to extend that same opportunity for academic and career success to even more of our partner community college system students,” she said.
