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 Lehman College, CUNY, will join with five other educational partners to build a Virtual Learning and Support Plaza for the nation's Hispanic high school and college students, it was announced
recently.
Under an initial federal grant for $376,275 awarded to the Hispanic Educational Telecommunications System (HETS) in Puerto Rico, Lehman will help create a web site enabling students to
"learn anywhere, anytime." Services will be provided to individual students, including adult learners, as well as to the network of institutions belonging to HETS. The other partners in the project are the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan, the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, the University of the Sacred Heart, also in San Juan, and Electronic Data Systems Corporation.
"This site will give students immediate access to whatever kind of support they may need, either to enter college or to successfully complete their degree programs," said Dr. Anne Rothstein, director of Lehman's Center for School/College Collaboratives, which helped conceptualize and propose the project.
"It will offer a virtual community of collaboration through a cyber place." She estimates that the Plaza will open by the spring of
2000.
This project marks the latest of several electronic communities Lehman is helping to build. A Bronx Information Network, for instance, with Lehman as its hub, is being created to connect schools and other organizations in the borough with one another and with world-wide resources for learning and support. These efforts are possible because of the significant technological resources now available at the College, including facilities for distance
learni ng as well as a new state-of-the-art Information
Technology Center.
When fully operational, the new Plaza will enable students to register for online,
credit-bearing courses, give them give them access to various library and other information
resources, and provide academic advice. Volunteers from academic, professional and business organizations will be recruited to provide this online mentoring. Students will also be able to communicate via e-mail with one another and interact through group
forums.
At the same time, faculty in HETS institutions will receive training, instructional design support, and incentives to develop online courses and training modules for the Plaza. The goal is to develop at least eight online courses and ten training modules for the
site. Update information on the site will be available through HETS at
http://mtsnm.edu/HETS/hets.htm.
Lehman, a senior college in the City University of New York, is located on a 37-acre campus in the Northwest Bronx and offers over 90 undergraduate and graduate programs.
 The U.S. Department of Education has awarded Lehman College, CUNY, a four-year grant
totaling over $700,000 to help support students traditionally underrepresented in higher education who have the academic promise to earn their
doctorates.
The funds are provided through the federal government's Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, named in honor of the Afro-American physicist and astronaut who perished in the 1986 Challenger explosion.
"This is an important grant for our students," said Dr. Gary Schwartz, director of Lehman's McNair Program.
"It recognizes and encourages their potential to excel academically after college. From this group we hope will emerge some of the distinguished scholars and faculty who will inspire the next generation of college students."
The grant carries $190,000 per year for four years. It will provide special advising and other services to 20 Lehman juniors and seniors, who will be selected on the basis of background and academic achievement. This is the first time Lehman has won a McNair
grant.
The students will receive special instruction in the research and computer skills needed for post-graduate study, as well as preparation for the Graduate Record Exam, generally required for admission to graduate programs in the arts and sciences. A summer seminar will assess and summarize their growth.
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