SANTA BARBARA — Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) on Thursday announced that Oxnard College has been awarded a highly competitive grant from the Department of Education’s Science Technology Engineering Mathematics program for Hispanic Serving Institutions. Oxnard College has been awarded a five-year, $6 million grant. Hispanic Serving Institutions, as classified by the Department of Education, serve at least 25 percent Hispanic students. The federal funding will allow Oxnard College to develop innovative programs to help Hispanic and other under-represented students earn degrees in a STEM field. Only 100 institutions of higher learning were awarded this funding nationwide.
“We all know that the key to our success in the 21st century economy is ensuring that we have a highly educated workforce that can compete in the global economy. And that means making sure that students of all backgrounds can get degrees in science and math to better position them for good paying jobs upon graduation. I know that Oxnard College will put these federal dollars to quick work to give Hispanic students the tools that they need to succeed,” Capps said.
“We are extremely delighted to receive notification that Oxnard College is to be funded over the next five years $6 million to be able to build on our 2008 grant whose goal is to increase the number of Hispanic/Latino and other under-represented low-income students attaining degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers in concert with CSU-CI and UCSB. This will allow us to enhance our capacity to continue to develop pathways for students from high schools to matriculate into Oxnard College and then move on to the university system. Given the quality of our faculty and staff and the success of our 2008 grant, I have no doubt we will be able to meet the goals of this new grant,” said Richard Duran, president of Oxnard College.
“We know that Latinos will play an integral part in helping America reach President Obama’s goal of having the highest college graduation rate in the world by 2020,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
“These two programs will help to spur academic achievement for Hispanic students, especially within STEM programs, which are key to building a highly skilled workforce that can compete in a global marketplace.”