Centre begins regional science and math alliance

RELEASED: June 28, 2007

DANVILLE, KY—On June 25, Centre College kicked off its participation in the Kentucky-West Virginia Alliance for Minority Participation, a regional partnership of 10 Kentucky and West Virginia universities formulating strategies to double the number of engineering, science and mathematics baccalaureate degrees awarded to minority students in both states over five years. The program has enabled the College to bring incoming first-year students and upper-level underrepresented students to work in Centre science labs during the summer.

The program is funded by a $2.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation under the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation.

"It gives me the greatest pleasure to be participating in this alliance," said Centre College President John A. Roush. "We at Centre are honored to be partnering with the National Science Foundation and the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation.

"This alliance addresses an important shortcoming in higher education. We at Centre find it an extremely worthy goal to strive to increase the number of science, technology, engineering and math degrees awarded to underrepresented students, and we think Centre’s portion of the grant—which allows for two pre-freshman students and two current students to participate in collaborative research—will be a step in the right direction."

Preston Miles, John C. Walkup Professor of Chemistry, is Centre’s campus coordinator for KY-WV LSAMP.

"This is an excellent effort for Centre to be involved with because it unites two initiatives," Miles said. "Centre has recently increased efforts to be more intentional in our efforts to enroll minority students through a new partnership with the Posse Foundation, an organization that prepares promising small groups of public high school students for enrollment at top-tier colleges nationwide.

"Also, Centre has long had good success at involving undergraduate students in authentic research efforts as a way of introducing those students to the excitement and challenges of careers in science."  
 

Other institutions participating include the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, Kentucky State University, Western Kentucky University and the Bluegrass Community and Technical College in Kentucky; and West Virginia University, Marsha'l University, West Virginia State University and the West Virginia State Community and Technical College.

- end -

Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

For news archives go to http://www.centre.edu/web/news/newsarchive.html.