Florence, S.C. (August, 2022) – The South Carolina Advanced Technological Education (SCATE) Center at Florence-Darlington Technical College has received a $4,796,313, five-year National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF ATE) grant award to strengthen community and technical colleges across the nation by providing guidance on NSF ATE grant funding opportunities, mentoring to develop competitive grant proposals, faculty leadership development, real-time technical assistance, an online searchable database of NSF ATE-specific resources, and structured guidance for new grantees.

All two-year college STEM faculty involved in technician education can now participate in Mentor-Connect, a program that pairs faculty with mentors to help them prepare their applications for NSF-funded Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grants. For the past decade, Mentor-Connect’s services were available only to faculty at two-year colleges that didn’t have ATE grants in the past seven years.

One of our great Mentor-Connect mentors, Sharon Gusky, accepted a prestigious spot on the Fulbright Specialist Roster.

In an ATE Impacts Blog article Buffy Quinn explains how Mentor-Connect helped her obtain Onondaga Community College’s  first Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grant from NSF. She also talks about the fabulous support within the ATE community, her new role with the GeoTech Center, and how lessons learned from Working Partners helped her attain a promotion to assistant dean at Onondaga.

Community College Daily features the HSI ATE Hub2: Culturally Responsive Technician Education project and implementation of asset mindset instructional practices at SUNY Westchester Community College (SUNY WCC) in a June 29 article.