News

Columbia State Community College was recently awarded a $45,000 grant from NASA that will provide scholarships to women and other underrepresented students enrolled in certain science, technology, engineering and math degree and certificate programs.

A $45,000 grant will enable Roane State Community College to provide scholarships to women and underrepresented minorities interested in pursing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs.

Bonnie Breland listens to her Volunteer State Community College instructor talk about an upcoming class assignment for the course, Experience Literature. It’s a college class, but Breland, of Gallatin, is not just a college student, she’s a Sumner County Middle College High School student. Her fellow classmates might not even notice. But Breland is earning college and high school credit at the same time. And she’s doing it on the Vol State campus in Gallatin. “I’m very independent as it is,” Breland said. “This allows me to do my own thing. I can do it myself.

Nineteen students are the start of a pilot effort at Tennessee Tech University for people with a four-year degree to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing.

The Whitson-Hester School of Nursing enrolled the students at the beginning of the summer. They will graduate together in December 2015, after 18 months of study.

Jackson State was the recipient of The Southwest Tennessee Development District's (SWTDD) Innovation Award at the organization's annual board meeting on Monday, September 29. Every year, SWTDD recognizes a project within the district that has had a significant impact on the community, demonstrates a cost savings or cost effectiveness for the community, incorporates a creative use of existing resources and positions the community for a positive long-term impact.

Members of the Tennessee Board of Regents discussed the Tennessee Promise program, systemwide completion initiatives, new workforce training programs, and the chancellor’s evaluation, among other topics at its quarterly meeting on the campus of Pellissippi State Community College.

The Tennessee Board of Regents, the state university and community college system, will meet in regular quarterly session at Pellissippi State Community College located on Hardin Valley Road in Knoxville, Tenn., on Thursday and Friday, Sept. 25 and 26.

Committee meetings will take place Thursday and begin at 1 p.m. EDT in the Clayton Performing Arts Center in the Alexander Building. Committees will meet in this order: Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology, Academic Policies and Programs, Personnel and Compensation, Finance and Business Operations, and Audit.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second person to walk on the moon, will be among the guests appearing this fall on Classroom Under the Sea, an online show hosted by two educators living underwater for 73 days.

Scientific research isn’t just a passion for professors and graduate students. Increasingly, undergraduates are getting in on the action. Educators say it can be a creative hook to get students interested in the sciences. Two Volunteer State Community College students will show off their undergraduate research to lawmakers in Washington at the end of September. It’s hoped that by seeing the work of undergrads from across the country, members of Congress will get a better idea of the importance of research in teaching science.

When incoming freshmen arrived to begin classes at Tennessee State University this fall they found a new and innovative program designed to help make sure they stay on track to successfully complete their general education classes.

Called “Block” scheduling, the program is designed to help students transition from high school to college, build or develop relationships among peers, and ensure success to graduate in four years.

The Cumberland Business Incubator, located on Roane State Community College’s Cumberland County campus, has received a $50,000 prize to create a space where entrepreneurs can turn their ideas into working prototypes.

The Learning Support Academy combines academic courses with activities that acquaint students with the college experience. This was the second year for the academy, funded by the college and by a Tennessee Board of Regents Access and Diversity Grant.

The Tennessee Board of Regents Committee Chairs and the Ad Hoc Committee on Committees are scheduled to meet at the TBR office in Nashville on Friday, Sept. 12.

The Committee Chairs meeting will begin at 11:30 a.m. CDT with a working lunch. The agenda includes: 

Gov. Bill Haslam said the effort to build the new Goff Health Sciences and Technology Building on Roane State Community College’s Oak Ridge campus “shows what happens when a community really cares.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

According to figures from Complete College America, if 100 students entered college today in Tennessee, only 17 would graduate on time at a four-year college. Now some of the nation’s top universities and colleges across the country, including Tennessee State University, are prodding lingering students toward the graduation stage to push them to finish their degrees in four years.

It’s a move that aims to change the culture that completing a degree in four years is the exception and not the norm.

The National Science Board’s 2014 Science and Engineering Indicators report contains an all-too-familiar statistic.

Women account for only 28 percent of the workforce in science and engineering jobs. Elementary schools, high schools, colleges and universities around the country have designed initiatives to boost that number.

Roane State adjunct professor Jessica Fain wants to do her part, and she’s willing to live underwater for 72 days to show that science is cool, for boys and for girls.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

Roane State Community College will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, Sept. 5 for the new Goff Health Sciences and Technology Building at the college’s Oak Ridge campus.

The event begins at 8:30 a.m. The public is invited.