Title III Grant
APSU has been awarded a 5 year Title III Grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Title III, Part A - Strengthening Institutional Programs (SIP) Grants are a combination of Discretionary/Competitive Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program. SIP provides discretionary grants to eligible institutions of higher education to help them become self-sufficient and expand their capacity to serve low-income students, by providing funds to improve and strengthen the institution’s academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability.
The APSU Title III grant will run from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2025. At the completion of the grant cycle, the university will decide to institutionalize programs that were proven to increase the overall student success goals of the institution. Below you will find more information as it pertains to the specific goals of the grant at APSU.
Coaching and Student Success Initiatives
The Title III Coaching and Student Success Initiatives office is located in the area of Student Success and Strategic Initiatives. The following lays out the grant goals and initiatives.
Program Goals
- Purpose First onboarding structure and programming developed as an extended orientation experience to facilitate career exploration coupled with guided major selection early in a student’s postsecondary career.
- Course development of a general education core course focused on the study of the ethnographies of work as the cornerstone academic experience for a first-year learning community engaged in experiential learning to establish a foundation of skills for labor market readiness.
- Creation of a career readiness course that is embedded in the curriculum activities aligned with learning outcomes of the top ten high enrolled first-year student general education core courses.
- Supporting students during their first two years at the university through development of a Success Coaching model.
- Development of career readiness services through college-focused Career Coaching.
- Development of student employment as high impact practice in experiential learning.
- Increasing the capacity of the institution to engage students in career readiness experiential learning through internships and undergraduate research.
- Faculty and staff development programs focused on integrating career readiness and labor market analysis into the curricular and co-curricular experiences of students early in their educational journeys to facilitate a prudent academic program choice with sensitivity to the progression and achievement gaps experienced by low socio-economic and first-generation students. Development sessions can take the form of on-campus workshops by exemplary faculty, staff, and project personnel supplemented by consultants; travel to off-campus workshops/seminars; and a Summer Academy
- Faculty and staff development programs in administration and outcomes interpretation of career assessment inventories, as well as skilled in accessing and leveraging economic modeling data to embed career readiness curriculum activities into the student academic and co-curricular experience.
Professional development is the key to the first focal point’s positive impact.
Grant Initiatives
Purpose First Scholars is a program for students that facilitates career exploration and career readiness as they begin their college career.
As part of the Title III grant initiative, Economic Modeling tools are being provided to the APSU campus. Lightcast offers labor market analytics and economic modeling designed to connect students, education, and work. Data mining can be used to identify current labor market trends and assist with program evaluation and identification of key areas for change. Lightcast tools can support students in career exploration and help to provide connections between degree pathways, career options, and labor market needs. Lightcast also identifies careers that alumni are pursuing and relates them to their degrees earned at APSU. Used collectively, these tools will not only help attain the goals of the Title III grant but will also provide many benefits to all APSU students, faculty, and staff.
