“As a Hispanic-serving institution, Dominican College is in a unique position to educate a diverse student body in high-demand fields and help contribute to a more diverse workforce,” said Dominican President Sr. Mary Eileen O”™Brien. “These federal grants will enable us to establish comprehensive STEM and public health informatics technology programs, which will both go a long way in increasing educational and career opportunities for our students.”
A $4.5 million five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education will enable Dominican to develop a STEM Opportunities for Hispanic and Low-Income Students project.
It will also enable the school to create student services and curricular programs that will increase the college”™s STEM program enrollment, retention, degree completion and career entry. As part of this grant, Dominican will partner with Rockland, Westchester and Bergen Community Colleges to strengthen articulation agreements.
The $4.5 million STEM grant is the largest programmatic grant the college has ever received.
An additional $1.9 million grant was awarded to the college by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. The grant will enable Dominican to develop and establish a Public Health Informatics & Technology Workforce Development Program (PHIT).
The PHIT Workforce Program will include paid internships and career placement for students, and will help to establish within the college a PHIT concentration in its existing health sciences major and information technology major, as well as a PHIT minor and a PHIT certificate program.
The PHIT Workforce Program, funded through the American Rescue Plan, aims to increase the number and diversity of students entering the field of public health information technology to improve public health reporting and address systematic health inequities.
The PHIT program will be in place for the fall 2022 semester.
