SUNY Performance Investment Fund (PIF) Grants

SUNY Performance Investment Fund (PIF) Grants

Academic Exploration Program

We are entering Year 3 of a $525,000 award over four years for the Academic Exploration Program which is designed to:

  • Increase access and completion for at-risk students by addressing the challenges of the “undeclared student.” Significant improvements in enrollment, retention, and completion rates are the intended results of the AEP.
  • The initiative hopes to establish new evidence of the efficacy of student support programs like the AEP. Through the use of a quasi-experimental design we will promote evidence-based research establishing greater validity that the intervention had a causal effect.

Center for Applied Learning

Awarded $190,000 over 2 years to centralize and build capacity within the applied learning continuum of the students’ continuum for skills development, completion and placement.

SUNY Delhi has long been a leader in applied learning and the grant helps to establish a Center for Applied Learning.  The Center would expand the functionality of the College’s career services, internships placements, and service-learning to positively affect students, faculty and the institution. The vital function of outreach to community partners would be centralized, thereby creating greater efficiencies and seamless paths for students to secure work experience. Furthermore, it would provide the campus with comprehensive and consistent data on student learning outcomes achieved in applied learning courses and post-graduation. Finally, it would provide for accurate data necessary for securing initial and reaccreditations from regional and specialized accreditors.

Men of Color Leadership Initiative

Awarded $187,000 over 2 years to build upon its highly successful student support and intervention specialty programs such as the Educational Opportunities Program (EOP) and the Academic Exploration Program (AEP).

SUNY Delhi will address low achievement and graduation rates among Black and Hispanic/Latino men. The program will serve approximately 50-75 students in its first year and is aligned with the Chancellor’s priority of making SUNY the most inclusive state system in the country. Delhi is considered a “hidden gem” nestled in the rural Upstate Catskill Mountain community and, at 40%, has one of the highest percentages of Black and Hispanic student enrollments in the SUNY system.

Program design will increase access, and retention resulting in completion rates for Black and Hispanic male students that are greater than the SUNY-wide averages.  SUNY Delhi will address students’ poor performance, poor attitude to succeed, and a general dysfunction in self-identity with the character-building necessary to ensure life success. Delhi will use peer mentorship, cohort supports, developmental workshops and peer-driven group sessions to engage and work with participants.

Support for Underrepresented, Minority (URM) Faculty Staff recruitment and retention

Awarded $160,000 over 2 years to build greater capacity within the campus by increasing diversity within its faculty and staff.

Delhi proposes to double its URM faculty and staff over a three-year period through intensified recruitment, retention and partnering efforts. While close relationships with faculty and staff are one of the hallmarks of SUNY Delhi, there are very few faculty and staff of color who can serve as mentors and role models for students, especially Black and Hispanic students. Increasing the number of URM faculty/staff on each campus will drive higher retention and completion rates. Activities to improve campus climates will also positively impact the following goals:

  • Increase the percentage of URM faculty/staff at each campus to at least 10%.
  • Increase retention of existing and new URM faculty/staff.
  • Make each campus more welcoming and inclusive through best practices and methods such as search committee training, campus-wide diversity.edu training, and retooled mentorship programs.

C-Pass: Collective Pursuits for Academic and Social Supports

Awarded $142,900 over 2 years to establish the Collective Pursuit of Academic & Social Supports (C-PASS) program of centralized advisement that aims to support and increase student achievement, success and completion rates. The program will provide immediate, centralized and structured advisement from the point of acceptance with early support for students who are low achievers, at-risk of failing, and underprepared for college.

The C-PASS program would replicate the success of Delhi’s well-established Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) and Academic Exploration Program which have steadily increased students’ success and retention rates over the last three years, with current rates of 66% and 70%.

C-PASS will expand and scale-up proven student intervention strategies that impact student recruitment, retention and success rates. C-PASS is designed to restructure academic advisement at Delhi to centralize and institutionalize best practices to provide support services that create a safety net for all students. We will “catch” students early in their academic journey and proactively address the challenges, pitfalls, and developmental issues that are factors in students’ failure to matriculate.

Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Awarded $105,647 over 2 years of seed support to launch the Center for Teaching and Learning and its LEAP Academy for faculty (Learning, Achievement, Engagement, and Performance). Funds will assist in demonstrating the effectiveness of an evidence-based program design that promotes effective teaching practices, supportive leadership, greater faculty performance, and improved student results. SUNY Delhi will centralize and institute a 360° professional development approach that builds capacity within its faculty corps and ultimately increases the success rates of students. The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning will encompass the College’s existing Callas Center. It will bring both in-classroom and online classroom pedagogy into a central hub for increased faculty effectiveness.

The Center aims to:

  • Deepen faculty content knowledge.
  • Provide faculty with research‐based instructional strategies to promote students retention, success and completion.
  • Prepare faculty to evaluate the use of and selection of assessments appropriately.
  • Increase faculty digital literacy and competency for in-classroom and distance-learning technology.