Durham Tech Receives $100,000 Grant for software to help students stay on track

A commitment to learning is pervasive in Durham.  Aside from the well known universities in Durham, Durham Technical Community College is also here, and it is both a gateway for some on the path to a four year degree, as well as a destination for those seeking certificates and a less traditional secondary education path.  The latter just got a big leg up.

Dr. Bill Ingram, president of Durham Technical Community College, announced that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded the college a $100,000 grant through its Market Acceleration for Integrated Planning and Advising Services (IPAS) initiative, to help students get – and stay – on track. The grant will provide a student success plan (SSP) software system and implementation funds to support the college’s continuing efforts aimed at student retention, persistence, and goal completion.

According to Ingram, “As a result of the college’s long-standing involvement with and work in Achieving the Dream, Durham Tech has made significant progress in student success, involving numerous campus stakeholders in supporting at-risk student populations, including low-income, minority, and first-generation college students. The IPAS grant will help us expand academic planning, counseling, and coaching, as well as facilitate risk targeting and intervention.”

Dr. Thomas Gould, dean and department head of Arts, Sciences, and University Transfer, adds, “The new software will give students direct access to the planning system, which will enable them to chart, develop, and assess comprehensive and accurate individual academic plans – a personal road map – as they navigate from registering for their first classes all the way to graduation. IPAS will also provide Durham Tech faculty and staff with access to new data sources to facilitate the advising and registration processes and provide more timely support interventions.”

“The SSP software will provide an organized, centralized, and accessible means to manage student educational pathways. IPAS will be our GPS for student success,” explains Ingram. “This is a college-wide collaborative effort aimed at student success and completion.”

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Durham Tech To Receive $215,000 Grant

Durham Technical Community College (DTCC) has been selected as one of only four community colleges in the nation to participate in the new Catalyst Fund Program and will receive a $215,000 grant.

The Catalyst Fund grants are administered by Achieving the Dream, Inc. (AtD), a national nonprofit leading the nation’s most comprehensive non-governmental reform network for community college student grants with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. AtD will assist the college in the process of scaling effective interventions to reach a significantly large population of students. Durham Tech was chosen because of its known commitment to student-centered, evidence-based reforms and outstanding increases in student outcomes.

"The name of this grant is particularly appropriate, as this initiative is a real catalyst in bringing to scale some of our most promising student success efforts,” says Dr. Bill Ingram, president of Durham Tech. “Students who complete our College Transfer Success course are far more likely to persist from one semester to the next and also perform better academically than those who don’t enroll in or complete the course. We are delighted and honored that Achieving the Dream and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have decided to invest in Durham Tech and in our students."

For 50 years, Durham Technical Community College has provided high-quality, affordable, and convenient technical and career education in Durham; served as the springboard to a bachelor’s degree; enabled tens of thousands of Durham and Research Triangle-area residents to enjoy continuing education offerings; and given many thousands more a second chance at success through adult literacy programs.