Cohort Information: Mentor-Connect Update

Mentor-Connect, the Leadership Development and Outreach initiative for NSF ATE 

(National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education) Centers is in year 3 of a project grant, funded and started in September 2012. To date, Mentor-Connect has formally worked with 186 faculty and administrators (122 faculty; 64 support personnel) from 61 colleges in 24 states across the United States. Nineteen skilled and experienced mentors from the ATE community have served in the one-on-one mentorship program since 2012. As a result of the mentorships and continued efforts, there have been 10 new awards made from cohort 1. We will find out in the spring and summer of 2015, which of the 18 that submitted in October, cohort 2, will receive awards for projects at their colleges. In October 2015, cohort 3 will be submitting competitive proposals to the NSF ATE program track.

In addition, Mentor-Connect is working with other faculty and administrators as well as facilitating additional outreach and technical assistance for the ATE community. Not only is the Project working with those who were accepted into its one-on-one mentorship cohorts, but also tracking and keeping data for: 1) those who applied for Mentor-Connect and were not selected (32 colleges) with approximately half requesting additional assistance from Mentor-Connect; 2) Those who are not funded by the National Science Foundation, but submitted grant proposals; 3) Those who were not funded by the National Science Foundation, but did not submit proposals, and 4) Those who have been awarded by NSF ATE as new awardees of grant funds from this program track.

FLATE is happy to congratulate two Florida colleges that have been selected to participate as

Bill Eustace NFCC APT Program

mentees in the 2015 Mentor Connect cohort. North Florida Community College will be mentored for their proposal which will focus on developing a proposal to work with district high schools to strengthen manufacturing technician training through its TAACCCT-funded Automation and Production Technology PSAV program. This free structured mentoring program’s goal is to build leadership capacity in community college faculty and to help two-year granting institutions with little to no NSF grant experience through the process of writing a competitive proposal for the NSF ATE program. The small grants for “new to NSF” category have an over 50% funding rate, and is a great way for any two-year granting college with limited grant experience to get their feet ‘wet’.  

You can learn more about Mentor Connect at www.mentor-connect.org, or contact Charlotte Forrest, project manager at 843.676.8540/Mentor-connect@fdtc.edu.