- Upcoming Mentor-Connect webinar
- Va. college approved for ED’s Prison Education Program
- New journalism degree for incarcerated students
- Pa. college launches Transfer partnership in Wrexham
- Industrial sewing bootcamp
Upcoming Mentor-Connect webinar
Join Mentor-Connect Principal Investigator Pamela Silvers and National Science Foundation (NSF) program officers to learn about funding from NSF’s Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program and Mentor-Connect’s mentoring for teams developing ATE proposals. The September 24 webinar is free. Register today.
The American Association of Community Colleges is a founding partner of Mentor-Connect, which is hosted by Florence-Darlington Technical College in South Carolina.
For questions, contact Emery DeWitt, Mentor-Connect project manager and co-principal investigator, at emery.dewitt@fdtc.edu.
Va. college approved for ED’s Prison Education Program
Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) has received approval from the U.S. Education Department (ED) to operate as a recognized Prison Education Program (PEP) institution, which is required for incarcerated individuals to be eligible for Pell grants.
PVCC is the first college in Virginia and among fewer than 100 nationwide to receive approval to transition from ED’s Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites Initiative to full PEP status, as established under the FAFSA Simplification Act.
“Our mission is to offer an exceptional higher education experience to every student committed to a better future through learning,” PVCC President Jean Runyon said in a release. “This milestone represents a significant expansion of opportunity, access, and success for all students.”
Aside from providing access to federal student aid, the PEP designation allows PVCC to support other Virginia community colleges and universities in implementing and improving their own higher education in prison programs. The Virginia Community College System, which represents 23 colleges, has set a system-wide goal to increase enrollment of incarcerated students by 25% by 2030.
PVCC has been involved in prison education since 2006. Through its Higher Education in Prison Program, it has served 148 incarcerated students in the 2023-2024 academic year across the three sites, and more than 150 students have earned an associate degree through PVCC while in prison, according to the college. Students can earn a general studies associate of science degree and credits can transfer toward bachelor’s degree programs.
New journalism degree for incarcerated students
Chaffey College students in the California Institution for Men (CIM) will soon publish news and host podcasts under a new associate degree program in the prison. It is one of the first journalism degree programs offered by a California community college inside a state prison.
Chaffey, which has offered certificates and degrees in state prisons since 2004, began working with officials from California State University, Los Angeles, about a year ago to offer a transferrable associate degree that would pair well with its CIM bachelor of arts in humanities, according to a release. Chaffey chose journalism.
Through a $15,000 Scripps Howard Fund grant, Chaffey will assemble a team of journalism students from the Rancho Cucamonga campus to work with the CIM students by providing support in research, data collection and digital publishing, the college says.
“They’ll need help with posting, editorial work and research because they don’t have access to the Internet,” said Ian Jones, professor of journalism and English at Chaffey. “If they need statistics for a story, they have a team of outside journalists who can help.”
Meanwhile, students from Chaffey’s newspaper will write their own articles about the college’s Rising Scholars students. The program serves on-campus students who are formerly incarcerated and are either starting or continuing their education upon release.
Pa. college launches Transfer partnership in Wrexham
Bucks County Community College announced this week a partnership with Wrexham University in Wales that will allow its students to earn a bachelor’s degree in as little as one year abroad. It is the Pennsylvania college’s first international partnership.
Students completing their associate degree in business administration at Bucks can transfer directly to Wrexham to complete a bachelor’s degree in either business and management or accounting and finance management in just one additional year. Participants may also stay for an accelerated MBA.
“This is more than a transfer agreement — it’s a transformational experience,” BCCC President Patrick M. Jones said in a release. “Our students gain access to a high-quality international education at a fraction of the cost of many U.S. institutions, while immersing themselves in Welsh culture and gaining a global perspective.”
Wrexham has garnered international attention thanks to “Welcome to Wrexham,” an FX docuseries on the town’s soccer team.
Industrial sewing bootcamp
Tennessee’s Cleveland State Community College is starting a new industrial sewing class this fall designed to prepare students for a career in the textile industry.
The three-week training program, which starts September 8, will introduce basic sewing skills on an industrial sewing machine through hands-on practice, according to the college. Students will learn to sew on a variety of materials, follow a pattern and troubleshoot machine issues.
Cleveland State has partnered with area boat and car seat manufacturers, including CVG, Mastercraft, Great Lakes Boat Top, HCB Yachts, Malibu and Sea Ray to design this program, according to the college.
“Participants who complete the program will have the skills needed to begin work at any of these or other industrial sewing companies, with reduced on-the-job-training time leading to a more attractive resume and quicker pay increases,” Chrissy Pugh, Cleveland State’s advancement coordinator, said in a release.
