FY09 Funded Projects

The Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation: LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification. To support renovations to the Berg Instructional Center (BIC) and Student Resource Center (SRC), and the addition of the College Center. Priority activity will be progress toward achieving US Green Building Council LEED Silver Certification that will assure energy efficient features are incorporated into building design and engineering plans. LEED certification is a nationally recognized benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. Project Directors: Tom Ryan, John Wandolowski and Rod Schlenker. (The Rise Group) (Funded: $100,000)

Illinois Arts Council: McAninch Arts Center. Funding will provide general operating support for the 2008-2009 season that will include more than 45 presented events; 11 Gahlberg Gallery art exhibitions, and programs produced by the Arts Center Jazz Ensemble, Buffalo Theatre Ensemble, New Philharmonic Orchestra and DuPage Opera Theatre. The 2008-2009 Season will feature 374 Illinois artists and a variety of national and international performers in a diverse mix of genres and artists that will entertain, educate and enrich the cultural vitality of the community. Project Directors: Stephen Cummins and Roland Raffel. (Funded: $40,700)
MAC web site

Illinois Secretary of State (SOS): Leer es Poder (Reading is Power). The well-established family literacy program model promotes developmental growth, self-esteem and family cohesiveness, while reinforcing literacy skills. Leer es Poder serves an at-risk community in West Chicago in need of intensive and comprehensive support services to families with preschool children. Twenty-five (25) families who are educationally and socioeconomically disadvantaged will participate. Project Directors: Carol Garcia and Pat Coleman. (Funded: $35,000)
Press Release

Illinois Secretary of State: People Educating People (PEP). The adult volunteer literacy program uses community volunteers to individualize instruction and provide tutoring for ABE (Adult Basic Education); Pre-GED (General Education Diploma) students below the ninth grade level in reading and math classes; and beginning ESL (English as a Second Language) students in Adult ESL, Citizenship or ESL Family Literacy Classes. Through the PEP program conducted at 26 sites in 16 communities, 410 students received a total of 8,155 group and one-to-one instructional hours from 83 specially-trained volunteer tutors in FY08. Project Directors: Joan Morris and Pat Coleman. (Funded: $40,000)
Press Release

The DuPage Community Foundation: Corrido Project. An educational arts program will use music, literature, visual art and performance to engage up to 100 Hispanic children in the arts and increase literacy achievement. The MAC will partner with West Chicago Elementary School District #33, WeGo Together for Kids and the STARS After School Program to engage ethnomusicologist Juan Dies and the GRAMMY nominated Mexican folk ensemble Sones de Mexico. The 4th through 8th graders will write, illustrate and perform corridos, a popular narrative song and poetry form derived from 16th century Spanish romance song and poetry. Project Directors: Stephen Cummins and Roland Raffel. (Funded: $5,000)
Press Release

Illinois Center for Specialized Professional Support: Direct Connect – Linking Alternative School Based Students with Emotional Disabilities to Career and Technical Education Programs at College of DuPage. A cohort of senior students at Southeast High School will complete a program bridging them from high school to C.O.D. with orientation to the college environment, career assessment and personal growth strategies. Project Director: Steve Fry. (Funded: $3,349)    

Illinois Center for Specialized Professional Support: Non-traditional Career Mentoring Group. This project matches high school students from the Technology Center of DuPage with C.O.D. students enrolled in non-traditional programs, industry professionals and career guidance counselors. Students will participate in a variety of career exploration activities and industry site visits throughout the year. The Informative Resource Guide that provides labor market trends, career guidance, and curriculum development options will be updated. Project Director: Alison Greene. (Funded: $1,500)

Illinois Center for Specialized Professional Support: Adults in Transition. Career direction and a support group will be provided for mature workers, displaced workers, single parents, and veterans who may be experiencing unemployment, underemployment or return to employment. A series of workshops will be conducted to strengthen the transition to education and careers, with an emphasis on personal and professional growth issues like goal setting, time management, communication skills, and financing daily living and education. WorkNet DuPage will collaborate. Project Director: Janet Rand. (Funded: $1,500)

The Council of North Central Two-Year Colleges and the Higher Learning Commission: Veterans Education: Coming Home to the Community College Classroom. The needs of veterans and active duty military college students will be enumerated through focus groups and interviews with C.O.D. students, faculty and staff. A national scan of community college services and activities that contribute to academic success for veterans and active duty personnel will be conducted. Research results will be presented at a future in-service workshop for faculty, and a Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) module for classroom use and/or personal enrichment will be developed. Results will also be disseminated at the 2009 Higher Learning Commission Conference in Chicago that will include the 19 states comprising the north central region. Project Director: Karen Persky. (Funded: $2,215) 

The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation: The Buffalo Theatre Ensemble (BTE). Funding will be used to develop and implement strategies to expand BTE’s current subscriber base and to attract new audiences. BTE fulfills a strong mission to engage the community through activities that include conducting workshops in college departments; producing popular study guides for BTE productions; involving patrons in pre- and post-show discussions; and outreach to a variety of local organizations. Project Directors: Connie Canaday Howard and Amelia Barrett. (Funded: $7,500)
Press Release

Illinois Community College Board: Adult Education and Family Literacy. The Adult Education and ESL Program at College of DuPage is the largest literacy provider in the district, annually serving 6,500 students in seven distinct instructional areas: Adult ESL; ESL Family Literacy; Adult Basic Education/Reading; English; Math; GED Preparation in English and Spanish; Citizenship and ESL for Citizenship. Classes are scheduled mornings, afternoons and evenings; seven days a week; at 36 sites throughout District 502. The Adult Education and ESL Program at College of DuPage is second only to the City Colleges of Chicago system in size, performance and funding. Of note, C.O.D. will implement a specialized ESL Beginning Literacy I class in Bensenville and Addison in FY09, as part of a national research project test-piloting curriculum for students who are not literate in their first or second language. Project Director: Pat Coleman. (Funded: $1,467,075)

Illinois Community College Board and the DuPage Area Occupational System: Partnership for College and Career Success (formerly Tech Prep). C.O.D. will organize a Career Pathways Advisory Board to create pathway sequences from high school to college in Career and Technical Education (CTE) program areas; coordinate the DuPage area CTE Roundtable; facilitate the Math-in-CTE project to develop curriculum with high schools and three community colleges; implement events, including 7th Grade Career Fair, Construction Trades Expo, Career Fair for Persons with Disabilities, and the Celebration of Partnerships; continue nontraditional career mentoring and career exploration; engage high school teachers and guidance counselors in career cluster training sessions and the DuPage Area Guidance Counselor Network; and provide business and industry partnership opportunities. Project Director: Ann Marie Rosen. (Funded: $66,000)

Illinois Community College Board: Perkins Postsecondary Career and Technical Education Program. Funding will impact programs that enhance curriculum; improve academic and technical skill development for students; provide faculty development; add equipment; and advance workforce development partnerships in Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. Many activities will be supported, including these examples. C.O.D. will continue Math-in-CTE curriculum development, with toolkits and demonstration lessons to integrate Math into CTE courses and CTE applications into Math courses. Applications will be initiated for ABA (American Bar Association) paralegal program approval and NATEF (National Automotive Education Foundation) recertification of the Auto Tech program. Industry-standard equipment will be added to the Architecture, Auto Tech, Construction Management, DMIR (Diagnostic Medical Imaging Radiography), HVAC, and Interior Design programs. Internships, lab and field experiences, and capstone courses in CTE programs will be developed and strengthened. Project Directors: Karen Randall, with William Carmody, Ann Marie Rosen, Meryl Sussman and Paul Svoboda. (Funded: $608,926)

Consortium of Academic Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI): Emerging Market, Emerging Problems: Environmentalism and Globalization in Asia, Latin America and the World. To support the acquisition of books related to the environmental, political, economic and social aspects of globalization in Latin America, with a primary focus on Mexico and Central America. Project Director: Daniel Blewett. (Funded: $2,000)
Press Release

The DuPage Association for the Education of Young Children (DAEYC): Early Childhood Education and Care Center Outdoor Sensory Garden. Funding will support the construction of a garden box as the first phase of an Outdoor Sensory Garden project that will serve as a life science and education lab. Project Director: Cynthia Rice. (Funded: $500)

Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board: The Suburban Law Enforcement Academy (SLEA) conducted 20 law enforcement continuing education training programs at College of DuPage and other sites between January and June 2008. A total of 458 law enforcement officers from 202 jurisdictions in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin completed training during this period. Courses included both Basic and Advanced Cyber Terrorism, ID Theft and Cyber Stalking as well as a newer suite of investigation-related courses: Basic Evidence Technical Training; Blood Splatter Analysis; Homicide Investigation; and Questionable Death, Homicides and Crime Scene Reconstruction. Project Directors: Jim Kempinski and Bill Lawler. (Funded: $132,550)

Illinois Community College Board: Programs of Study Demonstration Project in Nursing. The grant initiative will deliver a model statewide program pathway of study in nursing that will be used by secondary and post-secondary institutions throughout Illinois for student guidance and program planning. C.O.D. will work with John A. Logan College in Carterville to engage local stakeholders in identifying and prioritizing the knowledge and skill sets required for a prototype health sciences cluster, one of 16 career clusters to be unveiled in Illinois over the next several years. It is expected that C.O.D. and Logan College will disseminate results and that the process for the development of statewide programs of study and resulting informational materials will be especially beneficial for Illinois community colleges. Project Director: Meryl Sussman. (Funded: $150,000)