​California

Cuyamaca College received a $535,000 state grant to lead a partnership of seven California community colleges to provide more training for jobs in the water and wastewater field. The colleges working on the project will create and share curriculum for this in-demand field.

The other six colleges working on the project are College of the Redwoods, Santa Rosa Junior College, Gavilan College, College of the Canyons, Santiago Canyon College and Taft College.

Florida

Seminole State College of Florida will establish a new scholarship program with $2 million from the Wayne M. Densch Charities. The scholarship will help first-generation students, who comprise about a quarter of the college's students. Seminole State will also use the funding to design support programs to help these students graduate.

Massachusetts

Mount Wachusett Community College and Quinsigamond Community College, along with Worcester State University and Fitchburg State University, were awarded a $12,000 grant from the Davis Foundation to support a collaborative student-writing assessment project. The institutions will develop and implement a model to gauge students’ writing abilities through their first two years of college.

North Carolina

Johnston Community College students in the heavy equipment and transport program will benefit from the recent donation of a 6.7-liter diesel engine. Cummins Atlantic donated the equipment, which will give future technicians an opportunity to learn first-hand how to troubleshoot, diagnose and repair engines. 

Virginia

Tidewater Community College’s (TCC) Women’s Center has plans to endow scholarships after receiving $419,000 in gifts from the estate of Alexsandria Manrov. The gifts were bequeathed in honor of Manrov’s late daughter, Alexsandria, who taught biology at TCC for many years. The Women’s Center scholarships will benefit students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programs. There are also plans to develop a leadership program for women students.

Wisconsin

Western Technical College (WTC) received a five-year, $2-million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to strengthen student success. The funding will help WTC move toward its goal of providing an inclusive student culture and programming, as well as cutting-edge curriculum. To reach that goal, WTC will implement programs to better prepare new faculty and to encourage faculty innovation. The college also will create a data system that better aligns student needs with available support services.