All community college educators can benefit from the advice that three community college administrators shared recently with MentorLinks mentees.
Vince DiNoto, principal investigator of the ATE GeoTech Center, Ann Beheler, principal investigator of the National Convergence Technology Center, and Rassoul Dastmozd, president of St. Paul College, have served as mentors for several MentorLinks cohorts.
All three have also been involved in small and large National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (ATE) initiatives and other externally funded projects. During a panel discussion at the meeting of MentorLinks mentees and mentors in October, they talked about the "multiplier effect" of building on the success of small grants, like MentorLinks.
MentorLinks is a program improvement initiative of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). The association awards funds from its National Science Foundation ATE grant to two-year colleges that want to start or improve STEM technician education programs. Colleges selected for the program receive the services of an experienced community college mentor, $20,000 for faculty release time for planning and professional development, and travel stipends over the two-year grant period.
AACC will issue a new request for proposals from community and technical colleges in February 2014.