Five City University of Seattle faculty were recently awarded Innovation Grants to support projects that all center on a common theme: improving students’ experiences and the potential for student success.

CityU’s Ellen Carruth, Judith Gray, Krissy Jones, Mary Mara and Pressley Rankin were recognized with other recipients of the National University System grants in La Jolla, California.

Each of the projects funded by the grants will benefit the CityU community in new ways.

Counseling Learning Community

Master of Arts in Counseling (MAC) faculty will utilize the grant to further develop the MAC Learning Community. The learning community seeks to improve opportunities for its students, strengthen relationships between the academic program and its community partners, and elevate the program’s reputation in the professional community.

“The most exciting aspect of the MAC Learning Community is the potential for addressing the needs of our students and the needs of the professional community,” said Ellen Carruth. “The MAC Learning Community will allow for students and practitioners to learn from each other, alumni to be involved in meaningful ways, and MAC students to be involved in teaching to learn.”

Graduate Student Boot Camp

Through the Innovation Grant, CityU will be able to implement a Graduate Student Boot Camp. The goal of the boot camp is to improve incoming graduate students’ experiences at CityU by minimizing the challenges they face as they begin potentially daunting academic journeys and encounter rigorous graduate school expectations.

“I am really excited about the difference the project will make to the lives and futures of first generation graduate students, especially those from diverse backgrounds and working class families,” said Judith Gray.

Math Lab

This grant will enable CityU to implement a Math Lab that will provide students with real-time assistance in math courses. Students will have access to instructional videos, resources and live tutoring for all math courses offered at CityU.

“The Math Lab is an essential tool to increase student success and completion of math courses,” said Krissy Jones. “With this lab we will be able to provide students with additional help in real time.”

Library Support

Support from this grant will allow City University of Seattle library staff will to study whether use of CityU’s library resources correlates with increased student achievement and retention. They will also be able to further analyze existing data in order to identify opportunities to improve the library’s resources, instruction and services for students.

“I am most excited about the opportunities my project may identify for the CityU library team to reach out to and increase support of our global network of students and faculty,” said Mary Mara.

Online Course Design

With the support of the Innovation Grant, CityU faculty will be able to dedicate their efforts to creating templates for exemplary online classes that faculty throughout the National University System can use to aid their course design. The classes will be created with feedback from faculty and instructional designers, along with input from instructors and students.

“As someone who regularly designs classes, having a template of proven best practices would be a great aid in my work,” said Pressley Rankin. “Being able to see the best practices in our learning environment would allow me to further develop my skill and therefore take my classes to the next highest level for our students.”

Learn more about the National University System’s Innovation Grants.