Main Menu
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu
)
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
4/27/2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES Northwestern State University has received a five-year, $1,810,000 Title III grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant will be used to develop innovative academic programs and services that will benefit new populations of students and enhance opportunities for low-income populations in the work force. NSU will also use the grant to support those innovations through advancing faculty excellence in instructional design and technology training.
"This grant should have a positive impact on the future of Northwestern," said NSU President Dr. Randall J. Webb. "Over the past several years, Northwestern has taken a leadership role in developing the electronic delivery of classes around the United States. The Title III grant will allow us to develop more classes to better serve students who seek to gain an education in this way."
The grant period will begin Oct. 1 and will conclude on Sept. 30, 2010. Dr. William A. Hunt, the former director of Grants and Contracts at NSU, will coordinate the grant on a part-time basis.
"The focus of the Title III grant will be academic excellence," said Hunt. "A program for advancement of faculty excellence will be developed to achieve a learner centered environment for all students. This grant will infuse technology into the total curriculum."
Each year 20 Northwestern faculty will be selected to participate in a faculty excellence program. By the end of the project 100 faculty, or approximately one-third of Northwestern's faculty will participate.
"The faculty excellence program will redesign courses
to use technology to create a learner-centered, self-paced environment
which will better address the needs of transfer students and the
non-traditional adult population," said Hunt. "The university
will seek to engage students at their level."
Northwestern has an extensive schedule of classes offered through the Office of Electronic and Continuing Education.
NSU offers associate degrees in criminal justice and general studies and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology completely online. The Radiologic Technology to B.S. in Radiologic Technology and Registered Nurse to B.S. in Nursing are also available electronically.
Northwestern's Masters of Education: Concentration in Educational
Technology, Masters of Art in Adult Education, Master of Science
in Health & Human Performance and Specialist in Education
are available online as well as an add on certification as a school
media specialist.
"Additional on-line courses will be developed because of
the faculty excellence program," said Hunt. "Students
today are technologically savvy because they have used computers
their entire life. We want to engage the students and challenge
their abilities with technology."
Northwestern also plans to enhance on-line services for students who take electronic classes by adding library services and academic services.
Over the next five years, the grant should help Northwestern attract students to offset the impact of new admissions standards, which take effect this fall.
"Northwestern has a great deal to offer prospective students," said Webb. "By adding classes and student services, the university will be more attractive to those seeking higher education. We believe those students will be those who are better prepared for college, which will result in higher retention and graduation rates in the future."