Mount Vernon Nazarene University was awarded a Title III Strengthening Institutions Program grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant, titled Improving Baccalaureate Success and Completion, will assist MVNU in designing and implementing its student success initiative, linking academic quality, vocational calling, and servant leadership.

MVNU's Center for Student Success will integrate divergent student learning services, incorporating them into one central administrative structure and location in the Thorne Library/Learning Resource Center, at the heart of the academic quadrangle for easy access. Activities planned for the center include learning laboratories in language, mathematics, and writing; programs focusing on peer tutoring and mentoring; and the summer bridge program. The center will also include ADA accessibility and interventions, leadership development, learning communities, and career and academic advising. The center will extend these academic support and career services to its adult students through the Internet and other technologies.

Assistant Vice President for Student Success and Retention Brad Whitaker, who functions as activity director, spoke about the importance of the Center for Student Success in actualizing MVNU's mission.

"We — MVNU faculty and staff — are resolved to journey alongside MVNU students, empowering and equipping them to learn and mature to their full aptitude as they prepare for the vocation to which God has called them," he said. "This generous grant substantially improves our capacity to develop and coordinate a full cadre of exemplary student services to ensure the best possible culture for student success and persistence."

The federal Strengthening Institutions Program enables colleges and universities to improve student learning, retention, and degree completion and move them toward greater effectiveness and self-sufficiency. The program also expands the ability of higher education institutions to serve low-income students through resources that strengthen academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability. The federal funds supplement private gifts and contributions from the members of the university's Board of Trustees.

The authorized funding for the first year of the five-year grant is $449,900. Due to its importance, MVNU has identified the Center for Student Success as its quality improvement project for the Higher Learning Commission, MVNU's regional accreditation agency.
--Mount Vernon Nazarene University