Daemen College : News : News Releases
Daemen College Awarded $179,549 from the U.S. Department of Education for Program with U.S., Canada, and Mexico
North American Mobility Program Will Emphasize Study, Internships, and Research-Focused on Sustainable CommunitiesDaemen College has been awarded a competitive four-year grant through the Program for North American Mobility in Higher Education. The program, administered in the United States through the U.S. Department of Education Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), is a grant competition run cooperatively by the governments of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Daemen’s project, entitled “Education for Sustainable Communities: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Environmental Literacy Through Student-Centered Research,” is a collaboration between six institutions of higher education: Daemen College; Highline Community College in Washington State; Universidad de Guanajuato in Mexico; Universidad La Salle in Mexico; St. Francis Xavier University in Canada; and University of Northern British Columbia, also in Canada.
Through the program, Daemen students will participate in exchanges with the partner institutions, and Daemen will host students from partner colleges and universities in Mexico and Canada. Students will have the opportunity to participate in research and internships, develop specialized language skills, and develop the knowledge, skills, and competencies to work in environmental careers on both a local and international level.
Daemen Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Edwin Clausen stated, “The focus of the grant is to strengthen our existing consortium with our US, Canadian, and Mexican partners, by developing a shared interdisciplinary curriculum and certificate program in sustainable communities, and the environment. Students will engage in community-based research at a partner institution in another country in order to develop an understanding of the problems faced by different communities in different nations.”
“Our graduates are citizens of the world and must have the skills to help solve problems faced by communities around the globe,” stated Dr. Brenda Young, Daemen Associate Professor of Biology. “In this program, Daemen students will work with faculty and organizations in Mexico and Canada to find solutions to local problems faced by communities in their region. These research projects include improving human health by identifying and removing sources of air and water contamination, working with indigenous communities to ensure their environmental health, and helping communities develop sustainable agriculture.”
The North American Mobility program promotes a student-centered, North American dimension to education and training in a wide range of academic and professional disciplines that complement existing forms of bilateral and trilateral exchange programs among Mexico, Canada, and the United States.
Consortia are funded for four years. The total U.S. federal funds to be awarded are $179,549. $246,435, or 58% of the total initiative, will be contributed to the project by Daemen College and Highline Community College.