Women's Colleges Receive First in the World Grants
Three women's colleges, Bay Path University, Bryn Mawr College and the College of New Rochelle, were among 24 institutions of higher education to receive Department of Education First in the World Grants in 2014. The First in the World (FITW) Program provides grants to institutions of higher education to spur the development of innovations that improve educational outcomes and make college more affordable for students and families, and to develop an evidence base of effective practices. Award-winning institutions often partner with public and private institutions and agencies that can assist in achieving project goals.
At Bay Path University, the grant will be used to expand and promote Social Online Universal Learning (SOUL), a platform that provides a flexible, tailored online learning environment for adult learners.
The College of New Rochelle will use the grant to pilot test Mentoring, Undergraduate Research, and Augmented Libraries (MURAL), which aims to create a set of model interventions to improve adult students' grades, retention, and four-year graduation rates in a variety of settings and collect data on successful practices to share with institutions who serve similar student populations.
Bryn Mawr's focus will be on increasing students' mathematics skills as a means to increase the number and proficiency of students seeking STEM degrees.